Differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women with breast cancer for clinical characteristics and their correlates

PURPOSE

Body size and ethnicity may influence breast cancer tumor characteristics at diagnosis. We compared Hispanic and non-Hispanic white (NHW) cases for stage of disease, estrogen receptor (ER) status, tumor size, and lymph node status, and the associations of these with body size in the 4-Corners Breast Cancer Study.

METHODS

One thousand five hundred twenty-seven NHW and 798 Hispanic primary incident breast cancer cases diagnosed between October 1999 and May 2004 were included. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by multiple logistic regression.

RESULTS

Hispanic women were more likely to have larger (>1 cm) ER- tumors and more than four positive lymph nodes (P < .003). Lymph node status was not associated with body size. However, among NHW women, obesity (body mass index >30) and increased waist circumference (>38.5 inches) were significantly positively associated with ER- tumor status (OR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.24-2.81 and OR, 2.59; 95% CI, 1.58-4.22, respectively). In contrast, among Hispanic women, obesity and waist circumference had inverse associations with ER- tumor status (OR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.29-0.84 and OR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.30-1.05, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Hispanic ethnicity may modify the association of body size and composition with ER- breast cancer. This finding could have relevance to clinical treatment and prognosis.

Sulfamethazine advances puberty in male chicks by effecting a rapid increase in gonadotropins

A sulfonamide, sulfamethazine (SMZ) has been shown to have a robust, progonadal effect. The mechanism of action of SMZ, however, is unknown. Our hypothesis is that the compound may act centrally and/or at the level of the pituitary. Four experiments were completed to test that hypothesis. Chicks exposed to a continuous photoperiod and fed a diet containing 0.2% SMZ showed an exponential increase in testes size. When 6 weeks of age (5 weeks on the SMZ diet), experimentals had testes weight nine times heavier than controls. Profiles for thyroid and gonadotropin plasma hormones suggested that T(3) was transiently lower in experimentals solely during the first week on treatment, while thyroxine levels were not different from controls. In contrast, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) were significantly elevated at the initial 1-week sampling point and remained elevated throughout the entire experiment. In a follow-up study, LH was found significantly higher than controls by 48 h after initially consuming the compound. When T(3) was added to the SMZ diet at 0.5 ppm, the progonadal effect of SMZ was attenuated. Importantly, chronic intake of T(3) delayed but did not block the stimulatory effect of SMZ for increasing plasma LH. We conclude that since one of the primary effects of SMZ is to increase rapidly plasma gonadotropins, data suggest the compound is acting at the level of the brain or pituitary to stimulate early gonadal development in chicks.