Association between Tumor Characteristics and Bone Mineral Density in Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Patients

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of bone mineral density ( BMD ) at the time of diagnosis with clinical‐pathologic findings in patients with operable postmenopausal breast cancer. One hundred and fifty‐eight postmenopausal women who had a baseline lumbar and hip BMD measurement were included in the analysis. Patients were divided into two groups based on the median BMD . p ≤ 0.002 was considered to be statistically significant. Hormone replacement therapy ( HRT ) use longer than 5 years was associated with increased lumbar BMD compared with patients who used HRT less than 5 years (p = 0.002). Patients with higher BMD tended to have low grade disease, no lympho‐vascular invasion, progesterone receptor‐positive tumors, and low Ki‐67 levels (p < 0.05). Higher baseline BMD in postmenopausal patients with breast cancer is associated with favorable prognostic features.