Induced abortion, bias, and breast cancer: why epidemiology hasn't reached its limit.

@article{Weed1996InducedAB,
  title={Induced abortion, bias, and breast cancer: why epidemiology hasn't reached its limit.},
  author={Douglas L. Weed and Barnett S. Kramer},
  journal={Journal of the National Cancer Institute},
  year={1996},
  volume={88 23},
  pages={
          1698-700
        }
}
  • D. Weed, B. Kramer
  • Published 4 December 1996
  • Medicine
  • Journal of the National Cancer Institute
Once again we are faced with the difficult task of judging a body of epidemiologic evidence. The issue, induced abortion and breast cancer, is about as thorny as it gets in modern American medicine (7). For us, the task at hand is more a matter of separating statistical association from spurious coincidence than of separating causal associations from noncausal. Making these judgments in the face of considerable uncertainty and complexity is a serious matter, requiring prudence and the… 
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Abortion and Breast Cancer re : “ collaborative reanalysis of data ” published in
The paper in the Lancet entitled “a collaborative reanalysis of data from 53 epidemiological studies, including 83,000 women with breast cancer from 16 countries”, by Valerie Beral et al. 1 , is an…
Invited Commentary: Reporting Bias in Case-Control Studies on Induced Abortion and Breast Cancer
TLDR
The present attempt of Tang et al. (11) to quantify reporting bias in a sample of participants of two such case-control studies is of great interest because it is known that induced abortions are markedly underreported in the general population.
Long-term physical and psychological health consequences of induced abortion: review of the evidence.
TLDR
It is concluded that informed consent before induced abortion should include information about the subsequent risk of preterm delivery and depression, and it is clear that a decision to abort and delay pregnancy culminates in a loss of protection with the net effect being an increased risk.
Underdetermination and Incommensurability in Contemporary Epidemiology
  • D. Weed
  • Medicine
    Kennedy Institute of Ethics journal
  • 1997
TLDR
Suggestions are examined for dealing with the partial incommensurabilities found in the general practice of causal inference in contemporary epidemiology, and two specific examples illustrate these ideas: studies on the relationship between induced abortion and breast cancer and those on the relationships between moderate alcohol consumption and breastcancer.
Long-Term Physical and Psychological Health Consequences of Induced Abortion: A Review of the Evidence
TLDR
It is concluded that informed consent before induced abortion should include information about the subsequent risk of preterm delivery and depression, and it remains uncertain whether elective abortion increases subsequent breast cancer.
Breast cancer and abortion: collaborative reanalysis of data from 53 epidemiological studies, including 83 000 women with breast cancer from 16 countries
Induced Abortion and Risk for Breast Cancer: Reporting (Recall) Bias in a Dutch Case-Control Study
TLDR
The authors conclude that reporting bias is a real problem in case-control studies of induced abortion and breast cancer risk if study findings are based solely upon information from study subjects.
Risk of breast cancer after miscarriage or induced abortion: a Scottish record linkage case-control study
TLDR
These data do not support the hypothesis that miscarriage or induced abortion represent substantive risk factors for the future development of breast cancer.
A record-based evaluation of induced abortion and breast cancer risk (United States)
TLDR
The results do not support a relation between induced abortion and breast cancer incidence, and the multivariate adjusted relative risk of breast cancer in women with an induced abortion was 0.9, similar in parous women, and nulliparous women.
JNCI and cancer prevention.
TLDR
The Journal of the National Cancer Institute has been at the forefront of numerous major publications related to cancer prevention, and has also published important evidence on very charged topics, such as the purported link between abortion and breast cancer risk.
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References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 29 REFERENCES
Does induced or spontaneous abortion affect the risk of breast cancer?
TLDR
Studies to date are inadequate to infer with confidence the relation between induced or spontaneous abortion and breast cancer risk, but it appears that any such relation is likely to be small or nonexistent.
Induced abortion and breast cancer: more scientific data are needed.
  • L. Rosenberg
  • Medicine
    Journal of the National Cancer Institute
  • 1994
TLDR
Women who reported one or more induced abortions appeared to have a greater risk of breast cancer than women who had been pregnant but never had an abortion; the increase was estimated to be 50%.
Induced abortion as cancer risk factor: a review of epidemiological evidence.
  • L. Remennick
  • Medicine
    Journal of epidemiology and community health
  • 1990
TLDR
The issue of the oncological implications of induced abortion is reviewed and there is some evidence to suggest that there is a mildly significant relationship controlling for other reproductive factors between induced abortion before 1st full term pregnancy and breast cancers.
Abortion and the risk of breast cancer. Is there a believable association?
The data presented by Newcomb and colleagues 1 in this issue of JAMA add one more valuable piece to a scientifically complex and politically charged jigsaw puzzle, the issue of breast cancer risk and…
Induced abortion and risk for breast cancer: reporting (recall) bias in a Dutch case-control study.
TLDR
The association between induced abortion and breast cancer was stronger in the southeastern regions of the country, which have a predominantly Roman Catholic population, than in the western regions, which differ in prevalence of and attitude toward induced abortion.
Epidemiology faces its limits.
TLDR
The pendulum swings back and forth, subjecting the public to an “epidemic of anxiety,” as Lewis Thomas put it over a decade ago, and many epidemiologists say the problem also lies with the very nature of epidemiologic studies, in particular those that try to isolate causes of noninfectious disease.
Induced abortion as an independent risk factor for breast cancer: a comprehensive review and meta-analysis.
TLDR
The results support the inclusion of induced abortion among significant independent risk factors for breast cancer, regardless of parity or timing of abortion relative to the first term pregnancy.
Response bias in a case-control study: analysis utilizing comparative data concerning legal abortions from two independent Swedish studies.
TLDR
Two Swedish epidemiologic studies of breast cancer in young women, covering the same women and overlapping the same time period, have been compared in order to estimate a putative response bias which may explain the tendency toward increased risk of Breast cancer which, according to several case-control studies, appears to be associated with induced abortion.
Induced Abortion and Risk for Breast Cancer: Reporting (Recall) Bias in a Dutch Case-Control Study
TLDR
The authors conclude that reporting bias is a real problem in case-control studies of induced abortion and breast cancer risk if study findings are based solely upon information from study subjects.
"Proof" of cause and effect in epidemiologic studies: criteria for judgment.
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