The study conducted by University of Arizona, Tucson researchers revealed that Hip bone mineral density or high bone mineral density (BMD) may help predict a woman's risk of developing breast cancer after menopause.

The researchers, in the study published in Cancer, followed 9,941 postmenopausal women averaged 63 years old and found 327 of them developed breast cancer during the 8.4 years of research period. They studied Gail scores and hip BMD data gathered from these women and found that the women with a high Gail risk scores had a 35 % high risk for developing breast cancer compared to women with a low Gail risk scores, and a 25 % increase in breast cancer risk with each unit increase in hip BMD.

Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology at Ochsner Health System in Baton Rouge, La, stated that women who present high bone densities are usually overweight or obese; it seems that such conditions increase the risk of breast cancer.

The findings of this new study have been supported by some previous studies that indicated a connection between bone health and breast cancer risk. One of the studies presented in May during the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, found that Zometa, a drug that is usually used for treating osteoporosis, reduces the risk of recurrence of breast cancer for premenopausal women. Another study articulated that women with breast cancer who have vitamin D deficiencies have higher chances of experiencing recurrences or even of dying from the disease.  

But, Dr. Mary Daly, director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, asserted that the exact connections between estrogen, bone density and breast cancer still remain to be cleared up.