Diet quality of Australian breast cancer survivors: a cross-sectional analysis from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health.

BACKGROUND: Evidence supports strong associations between healthful eating patterns and maintaining a healthy weight with favourable health outcomes for breast cancer survivors (BCS). The present study aimed to evaluate the diet quality of Australian BCS and to determine whether diet quality differed between BCS and age-matched healthy controls (HC) or by geographical location. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 281 BCS and 4069 HC from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health mid-aged cohort completing Survey 3 in 2001. Data from the Dietary Questionnaire for Epidemiological Studies food frequency questionnaire were used to calculate the Australian Recommended Food Score (ARFS), a validated summary estimate of diet quality based on adherence to the Australian dietary guidelines. RESULTS: The mean (SD) ARFS of the BCS group was 33.2 (9.4) out of a maximum of 74. Mean (SD) total ARFS and component scores of BCS did not differ from the HC group [32.9 (8.7)] and no differences were found in ARFS between urban and rural BCS. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study dedicated exclusively to describing the diet quality of Australian BCS. Although no difference was found when comparisons were made with a HC group, there is considerable room for improvement in the diet quality of Australian BCS. Given research suggesting higher risk of chronic conditions such as obesity amongst BCS, and the recognition of optimising diet quality as a key factor in health promotion for all population groups, data from the present study suggest the need for research targeting the feasibility and impact of improving diet quality of Australian BCS.

Predictors of antenatal alcohol use among Australian women: a prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To identify predictors of antenatal alcohol consumption among women who usually consume alcohol. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH). POPULATION OR SAMPLE: A total of 1969 women sampled from the ALSWH 1973-78 cohort. METHODS: Women were included if they were pregnant in 2000, 2003, 2006 or 2009. The relationship between antenatal alcohol consumption and sociodemographics, reproductive health, mental health, physical health, health behaviours, alcohol guidelines and healthcare factors was investigated using a multivariate logistic regression model. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Alcohol use during pregnancy. RESULTS: Most (82.0%) women continued to drink alcohol during pregnancy. Women were more likely to drink alcohol during pregnancy if they had consumed alcohol on a weekly basis before pregnancy (odds ratio [OR] 1.47; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.13-1.90), binge drank before pregnancy (OR 2.28; 95% CI 1.76-2.94), or if they were pregnant while alcohol guidelines recommended low alcohol versus abstinence (OR 1.60; 95% CI 1.26-2.03). Drinking during pregnancy was less likely if women had a Health Care Card (OR 0.63; 95% CI 0.45-0.88) or if they had ever had fertility problems (OR 0.64; 95% CI 0.48-0.86). CONCLUSIONS: Most Australian women who drank alcohol continued to do so during pregnancy. Prepregnancy alcohol consumption was one of the main predictors of antenatal alcohol use. Alcohol guidelines, fertility problems and Health Care Card status also impacted antenatal alcohol consumption.