Magnitude and attributed reasons for adult weight gain amongst women at increased risk of breast cancer

BMC Women's Health

Table 6 Self-reported reasons for weight gain: moderate and high risk of breast cancer

Reason	Moderate risk (17–30% lifetime risk) (n = 200)		High risk (> 30% lifetime risk) (n = 193)
Reason	Number stating reason	% stating reason	Number stating reason	% stating reason
Children / Childcare / Pregnancy	115	57.5^a	105	54.4^b
Inactivity	83	42.5	83	41.5
Comfort or boredom eating	86	43.0	66	34.2
Portion Size	74	37.0	56	29.0
Stress	66	33.0	44	22.8
Work / Study	50	25.0	31	16.1
Marriage / settling down	46	23.0	48	24.9
Bereavement	45	22.5	28	14.5
Menopause / HRT	40	20.0^c	30	15.5^d
Depression	38	19.0	26	13.5
Lack of time to prepare food	35	17.5	20	10.4
Takeaways / Ready meals	34	17.0	27	14.0
Alcohol	30	15.0	18	9.3
Food Preferences (own/family)	30	15.0	13	6.7
Health problems / Medications	22	11.0	16	8.3
Giving up smoking	17	8.5	24	12.4
Cooking skills	7	3.5	4	2.1
Cost of healthy food	7	3.5	3	1.6
Contraceptives	7	3.5	10	5.2
Eating out	4	2.0	2	1.0
Lack of sleep / tiredness	3	1.5	3	1.6
Carer	3	1.5	1	0.5
Fertility treatment	3	1.5	1	0.5
Social life / holidays	2	1.0	2	1.0
Sweet tooth	2	1.0	1	0.5
Appetite / Hunger	1	0.5	0	0.0
Divorce	1	0.5	1	0.5
Hysterectomy / oophorectomy	1	0.5	0	0.0
Premenstrual hunger	0	0.0	1	0.5
Progesterone replacement	0	0.0	1	0.5

Excluding women missing percentage weight change (n = 32), women with percentage weight gain ≤5% (n = 12), women not giving reasons for weight gain (n = 72), women with unknown risk (n = 13). Women could have been excluded for than one of these reasons. Participants could give multiple reasons for weight gain
^aIncludes all women but only n = 168 women known to have children. Of those with children, 115/168 (68.5%) gave Children / Childcare / Pregnancy as a reason for their weight gain
^bIncludes all women but only n = 153 women known to have children. Of those with children, 105/153 (68.2%) gave Children / Childcare / Pregnancy as a reason for their weight gain
^cIncludes all women but only n = 86 women known to be peri/postmenopausal women. Of peri/postmenopausal women, 40/86 (46.5%) gave menopause/HRT as a reason for their weight gain
^dIncludes all women but only n = 98 women known to be peri/postmenopausal women. Of peri/postmenopausal women, 30/98 (30.6%) gave menopause/HRT as a reason for their weight gain

ISSN: 1472-6874