There is no association in postmenopausal women between wearing a bra and developing breast cancer, according to a new study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Researchers from the University of Washington wanted to address speculation that wearing a bra could be the reason why breast cancer rates are higher in the developed world than in developing countries. Some lay media articles have hypothesized that bras could hamper the drainage of waste products around the breast, the researchers wrote.
The group studied 454 women with invasive ductal carcinoma and 590 women with invasive lobular carcinoma, the two most common types of breast cancer, in the Seattle-Puget Sound area. The control group consisted of 469 women who did not have breast cancer. All women were postmenopausal and between 55 and 74 years of age.
The researchers asked study participants various questions about demographics and family and reproductive history, as well as a series of structured questions on lifetime patterns of bra wearing, such as when a woman started wearing a bra, whether she wore a bra with an underwire, and the number of hours per day and per week she wore a bra.
No aspect of wearing a bra was associated with an increased risk for either type of cancer, the researchers noted.
"Given very limited biological evidence supporting ... a link between bra wearing and breast cancer risk, our results were not surprising," said lead author Lu Chen in a statement.
