The association of chronic diseases with breast cancer

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common and fatal malignancy among Iranian women, accounting for 23% of all cancers in women. Researches showed that some chronic diseases increase the risk of breast cancer. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and breast cancer in women.methods: This descriptive comparative study was conducted with 122 women referring Tabriz Alzahra Educational Center for mammography this year. Samples were selected by convenience sampling and divided into two groups of 61 each as Case and Control group. A researcher-made checklist including age, disease type and chronic disease was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SPSS13 software, descriptive statistics and chi-square test.Results: Average age of women was 42.13 ± 10.41 and independent t-test showed that there was no significant difference between two groups in terms of age. 93.4% of women with breast cancer as well as 31.1% of healthy women had one of a variety of chronic diseases. 26.2% of patients with breast cancer had diabetes, 45.9% with hypertension and 34.4% with hyperlipidemia. 3.3% of women without breast cancer had diabetes, 11.5% had hypertension and 0% had hyperlipidemia. Chi-square test showed a statistically significant relationship between breast cancer and chronic diseases (P <0.001).Conclusion: Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that screening and treatment of chronic diseases can help to reduce the risk of breast cancer among women. Also there are probable common risk factors for chronic diseases and cancer, which require the improvement of women s lifestyles.