Abstract
Black women experience higher rates of hysterectomy than other women in the United States. Although research indicates that premenopausal hysterectomy with bilateral oophorectomy decreases the risk of breast cancer in black women, it remains unclear how hysterectomy without ovary removal affects risk, whether menopausal hormone therapy use attenuates inverse associations, and whether associations vary by cancer subtype. In the population-based, case-control Carolina Breast Cancer Study of invasive breast cancer in 1,391 black (725 cases, 666 controls) and 1,727 white (939 cases, 788 controls) women in North Carolina (1993-2001), we investigated the associations of premenopausal hysterectomy and oophorectomy with breast cancer risk. Compared with no history of premenopausal surgery, bilateral oophorectomy and hysterectomy without oophorectomy were associated with lower odds of breast cancer (for bilateral oophorectomy, multivariable-adjusted odds ratios = 0.60, 95% confidence interval: 0.47, 0.77; for hysterectomy without oophorectomy, multivariable-adjusted odds ratios = 0.68, 95% confidence interval: 0.55, 0.84). Estimates did not vary by race and were similar for hormone receptor-positive and hormone receptor-negative cancers. Use of estrogen-only menopausal hormone therapy did not attenuate the associations. Premenopausal hysterectomy, even without ovary removal, may reduce the long-term risk of hormone receptor-positive and hormone receptor-negative breast cancers. Varying rates of hysterectomy are a potentially important contributor to differences in breast cancer incidence among racial/ethnic groups.