iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Bra-wearing may not be linked to breast cancer risk in women, according to a new report.
The study, published Friday in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, found no link between bra cup size, bra band size, and the disease, among other factors.
“There have been some concerns that one of the reasons why breast cancer may be more common in developed countries compared with developing countries is differences in bra-wearing patterns,” said Lu Chen, researcher in the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “Given how common bra wearing is, we thought this was an important question to address.”
“The risk was similar no matter how many hours per day women wore a bra, whether they wore a bra with an underwire, or at what age they first began wearing a bra,” said Chen.
Researchers asked more than 1,000 women between the ages of 55 and 74 of their undergarment habits. The participants had either one of two common types of breast cancer — invasive ductal carcinoma or invasive lobular carcinoma.
“The findings provide reassurance to women that wearing a bra does not appear to increase the risk for the most common histological types of postmenopausal breast cancer,” the authors added.
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