Women who start their families early and those who have lots of kids have a higher risk of developing the most common type of kidney cancer, renal cell carcinoma.
Women who start their families early and those who have lots of kids have a higher risk of developing the most common type of kidney cancer, renal cell carcinoma.
Renal cell carcinoma occurs in men twice as often as in women. Known risk factors for the disease include obesity, high blood pressure, and smoking.
To investigate whether sex hormones might play a role in development of renal cell carcinoma, researchers in Boston looked at 118,219 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study, 247 of whom were diagnosed with renal cell cancer between 1976 and 2004. The researchers took factors like postmenopausal hormone (PMH) use, oral contraceptive use, number of pregnancy, age at first pregnancy and other reproductive factors of the participants into consideration.
It was found that women who had given birth to more children were at a higher risk of renal cell carcinoma, with the likelihood of the disease climbing by 10 per cent for every child born. It was also found that the later in life a woman had her first child, the less likely she was to be diagnosed with the disease; delaying childbirth to age 28 years or later cut risk by 34 per cent compared to women who had their first child when they were 22 years or younger.
However, no relationship was observed between use of hormones after menopause or birth control pill use and kidney cancer risk.
The researchers attributed the above findings to the possibility that pregnancy could boost renal cell carcinoma risk by putting more stress on the kidneys and urinary tract infection also is more common during pregnancy. The kidneys get slightly bigger during pregnancy, which could make the organs more vulnerable to oxidative stress and inflammation. The extended changes in oestrogen and progesterone levels that would occur with multiple pregnancies could also influence disease risk.
Renal cell carcinoma occurs in men twice as often as in women. Known risk factors for the disease include obesity, high blood pressure, and smoking.
To investigate whether sex hormones might play a role in development of renal cell carcinoma, researchers in Boston looked at 118,219 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study, 247 of whom were diagnosed with renal cell cancer between 1976 and 2004. The researchers took factors like postmenopausal hormone (PMH) use, oral contraceptive use, number of pregnancy, age at first pregnancy and other reproductive factors of the participants into consideration.
It was found that women who had given birth to more children were at a higher risk of renal cell carcinoma, with the likelihood of the disease climbing by 10 per cent for every child born. It was also found that the later in life a woman had her first child, the less likely she was to be diagnosed with the disease; delaying childbirth to age 28 years or later cut risk by 34 per cent compared to women who had their first child when they were 22 years or younger.
However, no relationship was observed between use of hormones after menopause or birth control pill use and kidney cancer risk.
The researchers attributed the above findings to the possibility that pregnancy could boost renal cell carcinoma risk by putting more stress on the kidneys and urinary tract infection also is more common during pregnancy. The kidneys get slightly bigger during pregnancy, which could make the organs more vulnerable to oxidative stress and inflammation. The extended changes in oestrogen and progesterone levels that would occur with multiple pregnancies could also influence disease risk.
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