September 26, 2005

Left-handedness and breast cancer

Breast cancer risk double for left-handed women

Women who are left-handed are at increased risk of developing breast cancer at an early age, research has suggested.

Scientists believe that women who are born left-handed may have been exposed to higher levels of sex hormones in the womb.

They are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with pre-menopausal breast cancer, according to a study published in the online version of the British Medical Journal. Researchers from the University Medical Centre in Utrecht followed more than 12,000 women born between 1932 and 1941.

They took into account other risk factors for breast cancer, such as body weight, smoking habits, family history and socio-economic status. Even when all these were adjusted for, women who were left-handed were 2.41 times more likely to develop breast cancer before the menopause.

Link (Independent)

Homosexual women tend to be more left-handed as well.

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