# Hormonal and reproductive factors and risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Chinese women: a case-control study

## TL;DR

A study in Hong Kong found limited evidence linking hormonal and reproductive factors to an increased risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in women.

## Contribution

This is the first study to explore several hormonal exposures in relation to nasopharyngeal carcinoma risk in Chinese women.

## Key findings

- Late menarche and a history of miscarriages were initially linked to higher NPC risk, but the associations weakened after adjusting for other factors.
- No significant associations were found between other hormonal and reproductive factors and NPC risk.
- The study's small sample size led to inconclusive results regarding the role of sex hormones in NPC development.

## Abstract

Sex hormones may play a role in the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), but the evidence is limited.

This case-control study collected information on sex hormonal and reproductive factors of 99 female incident NPC cases and 109 female controls in Hong Kong through face-to-face interviews.

An increased risk of NPC associated with late menarche and spontaneous miscarriage history was indicated when adjusted for age only, the age-adjusted odds ratio (OR) were 2.22, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04–4.72 for menarche at ages > 14 years, 2.31 (95% CI 1.03–5.18) for one miscarriage, and 4.00 (95% CI 1.04–15.31) for ≥ 2 miscarriages. But such associations were attenuated after adjustment for additional potential confounders, the fully-adjusted OR were 1.78 (95% CI 0.76–4.14) for menarche at ages > 14 years, 2.11 (95% CI 0.90–4.99) for one miscarriage, and 3.42 (95% CI 0.76–15.32) for ≥ 2 miscarriages. No associations were found for the other studied exposures.

Several hormonal exposures in relation to NPC risk were studied for the first time. However, this analysis led to inconclusive results given the small size but suggest no association between sex hormones and NPC in Hong Kong women.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13104-025-07471-1.