ArticleBMJ open2025
Biological embodiment of educational attainment and future risk of breast cancer: findings from a French prospective cohort.
Article in BMJ open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Relationship Between Climate Change and Breast Cancer and Its Management and Preventative Implications in South Africa.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Pooled it
- Exposure to air pollutants and breast cancer risk: mediating effects of metabolic health biomarkers in a nested case-control study within the E3N-Generations cohort.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWomen with higher educational attainment have a higher risk of developing breast cancer (BC). Despite the acknowledged impact of reproductive and lifestyle factors, some excess risks remain unexplained. Many studies support the hypothesis that education has a distinctive effect on physiological processes associated with health, independently of known risk factors.
objectivesIn this study, we aimed to determine whether the biological embodiment of education could be part of the observed social inequalities in BC risk. We focused on biomarkers from several physiological systems examined individually, and jointly through a biological health score (BHS).
designProspective cohort study.
settingThis study, based on a subsample of the French E3N cohort, included women with biological data from four nested case-control studies.
participantsThe study included 3048 postmenopausal women (17% BC).
main outcome measuresWe first evaluated the association between educational attainment and each biomarker, separately (N=11) and by combining them into a BHS, indicative of an augmented biological health hazard when elevated. Finally, we explored the relationships between the socially patterned biomarkers and BHS, and risk of incident BC.
resultsWomen with higher educational attainment exhibited a lower BHS in comparison to those with lower educational attainment (β
conclusionEducational attainment has a direct impact on biological processes suggesting that the biological embodiment of the social environment could be a potential pathway that mediates the association between educational attainment and health. Further studies are needed to specifically investigate the relationships between socially stratified biomarkers and BC risk.
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