Weight gain, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) levels, and excess exogenous steroid hormone use are putative cancer risk factors, yet their interconnected pathways have not been fully characterized. This cross-sectional study investigated the relationship between plasma IGF-I levels and weight gain according to body mass index (BMI), leptin levels, and exogenous estrogen use among postmenopausal women.This study included 794 postmenopausal women who enrolled in an ancillary study of the Women...

The role of exogenous estrogen use in racial differences in insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) levels which affect cancer risk is unclear. We investigated whether the relationship between race and circulating bioactive IGF-I proteins was mediated by exogenous estrogen and the extent to which exogenous estrogen influenced the race-IGF-I relationship in postmenopausal women.This cross-sectional study included 636 white and 133 African American postmenopausal women enrolled in an ancillary study ...

Despite evidence that prolonged periods of sitting may influence biological mediators of cancer development, few studies have considered these relationships in a cancer-specific context.This cross-sectional study included 755 postmenopausal women enrolled in an ancillary study of the Women's Health Initiative. Plasma levels of Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), IGF-binding protein-3, leptin, insulin, C-peptide, C-reactive protein (CRP), and Interleukin (IL)-6 were measured. The time spent sit...

Risk factors for obesity and weight gain are typically evaluated individually while ''adjusting for'' the influence of other confounding factors, and few studies, if any, have created risk profiles by clustering risk factors. We identified subgroups of postmenopausal women homogeneous in their clustered modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for gaining = 3% weight.This study included 612 postmenopausal women 50-79 years old, enrolled in an ancillary study of the Women's Health Initiative Ob...

Background: Predictors of premature death and cancer development are needed to more precisely identify individuals who may warrant preventive intervention. Circulating IGF binding protein-7 (IGFBP7) and, to lesser extent, the IGFBP7/IGF-1 ratio are emerging biomarkers of renal and cardiovascular morbidity. However, their relationships with aging, obesity, mortality and cancer risk remain unclear. Methods: This hypothesis-generating study investigated plasma IGFBP7, IGF-1, and their ratio as pred...

It is unclear which of four popular contemporary diet patterns is best for weight maintenance among postmenopausal women. Four dietary patterns were characterised among postmenopausal women aged 49-81 years (mean 63·6 (sd 7·4) years) from the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study: (1) a low-fat diet; (2) a reduced-carbohydrate diet; (3) a Mediterranean-style (Med) diet; and (4) a diet consistent with the US Department of Agriculture's Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). Discrete-time...

Objectives: To determine how baseline weight status contributes to differences in postmenopausal weight gain among non-Hispanic Blacks (NHBs) and non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs). Methods: Data were included from 70,750 NHW and NHB postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study (WHI OS). Body Mass Index (BMI) at baseline was used to classify women as having normal weight, overweight, obese class I, obese class II or obese class III. Cox proportional hazards was used to est...