In Other Journals

Women who have had a pregnancy end in either a spontaneous or an induced abortion do not have an increased risk of developing breast cancer, according to an international study. The Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer reanalysed 53 epidemiological studies which included data from 83 000 women with breast cancer in 16 countries, including Australia. Their finding differed from those of earlier case-control studies which they say may have been misleading because such studies had recorded induced abortion retrospectively (ie, after the breast cancer diagnosis had been made). Women with breast cancer may be more likely than other women to disclose previous induced abortions.