Anti-Müllerian Hormone Levels and Risk of Cancer in Women

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To examine if age-specific anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels are associated with cancer risk; and to investigate if age-related AMH trajectories differ between women who develop cancer and women who do not. More specifically, we examined associations with breast cancer, cancers in other tissues expressing AMH receptor AMHR2, and cancers in non-AMHR2-expressing tissues. STUDY DESIGN: We included longitudinal data from 3025 women in the prospective Doetinchem Cohort Study. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the association of baseline age-specific AMH tertiles with cancer. We applied linear mixed models to compare age-related AMH trajectories between women who were diagnosed with cancer and women who were not. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cancer (n = 385; 139 breast cancers, 112 cancers in other AMHR2-expressing tissues, 134 cancers in non-AMHR2-expressing tissues). RESULTS: Overall, baseline age-specific AMH levels were not associated with cancer risk, although in women ≤ 40 years an increased risk was suggested for breast cancer (HRT2:T1 = 2.06, 95%CI = 0.95-4.48; HRT3:T1 = 2.03, 95%CI = 0.91-4.50). Analysis of age-related AMH trajectories suggested that AMH levels were higher at younger ages and declined faster in women who were diagnosed with cancer compared with women who were not, but our results did not provide evidence for actual differences in trajectories. CONCLUSIONS: Our results did not provide evidence for an association between age-specific AMH levels and age-related trajectories and risk of cancer. However, effect estimates for breast cancer were in line with risk-increasing effects found in previous studies.