Age-specific anti-Müllerian hormone cleared of breast cancer risk
13 Dec 2020
Age-specific anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels have a null effect of the risk of developing breast cancer, a study reports.
The analysis was based on longitudinal data from 3,025 women in the prospective Doetinchem Cohort Study. Those in the lowest versus highest age-specific AMH tertiles tended to be older, premenopausal, and less likely to be currently using oral contraceptives, have ever used hormone replacement therapy, and be currently smoking.
A total of 358 cancer cases were documented. Of these, 139 were breast cancers, 112 were cancers in other AMHR2-expressing tissues, and 134 were cancers in non-AMHR2-expressing tissues.
In Cox proportional hazards models, age-specific AMH levels at baseline showed no association with cancer risk. However, there was a trend toward a greater risk of breast cancer in the higher vs low AMH tertiles among women aged ≤40 years (tertile 2: hazard ratio [HR], 2.06, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.95–4.48; tertile 3: HR, 2.03, 95 percent CI, 0.91–4.50).
On further analysis, AMH levels were higher at younger ages and declined faster in women with versus without cancer, although the differences were not statistically significant.
More studies with repeated AMH measurements in a larger population of young women are needed to determine whether and at which age AMH could be considered a risk factor for breast cancer.