Surgeons

Introduction: Fibroadenomas despite being benign cause undue anxiety to patients and place an enormous burden on physicians. Relationship of Body Mass Index and benign breast diseases is quite controversial. Despite multiple publications on relation of fibroadenoma and BMI in international literature, there are a few studies in Pakistan. Therefore it is need to time to ascertain any co-relation in our set of population.

Method: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study, conducted at the Department of General Surgery, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Islamabad, Pakistan from 24-03-2016 to 23-09-2016. 300 patients having benign breast diseases were evaluated co-relation between fibroadenoma and BMI. The data was analyzed by SPSS software version 17. Univariate analysis was used to establish co-relation between BMI and fibroadenoma. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered as significant.

Result: The mean age was 23.05±4.17 years (13-35). The average size of fibroadenoma was 2.5±1.9 cm (1-5). The mean BMI was 21.8±1.3 (19-24.9). 60 (20%) had fibroadenoma, while 240 (80%) had other benign breast diseases. 42(30.8%) of patients with high BMI (136) had fibroadenoma. 8 (10.8%) of patients with low BMI (74), had fibroadenoma however 10 (11.1%) of patients with Normal BMI (90) had fibroadenoma. Our study population showed a statistically significant increased risk of fibroadenoma formation in adolescent age group with high BMI (P<0.001).

Conclusion: A high BMI seems to be a substantial risk factor for development of fibroadenoma particularly in young adolescent females. The most site of lesion in our population was the upper outer quadrant of breast. There was substantial association of body mass index with size and quantity of lesions.