Air Pollution and Breast Cancer Risk in Women
NIEHS researchers and collaborators are unable to find any evidence to support a link between air pollution and breast cancer risk, with the exception of women living in the Midwestern United States.
Air pollution, which contains a complex mixture of carcinogens and endocrine disruptors, has been associated with breast cancer risk in past studies, but because previous studies were conducted primarily on white women, additional research was conducted to assess the effects on black women. This is explained by the fact that black women may be exposed to higher levels and types of contaminants and may be more likely to be diagnosed with tumor subtypes that do not respond to treatment.
In 41,317 women who participated in the Black Women's Health Study, investigators assessed whether higher residential levels of particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in size (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) were associated with higher breast cancer.
The researchers found no evidence of a higher risk of NO2 or O3, but they did observe that PM2.5 was associated with a higher risk of breast cancer among women living in the Midwest. because PM2.5 is heterogeneous and varies geographically, it is possible that the composition of PM2.5 in the Midwest reflects regional industrial emissions. This suggests that the composition of PM2.5 in the Midwest may reflect regional industrial emissions.These findings illustrate the regional differences and highlight the need to understand how individual compounds affect cancer risk.
Citation: White AJ, Gregoire AM, Niehoff NM, Bertrand KA, Palmer JR, Coogan PF, Bethea TN. 2020. Air pollution and breast cancer risk in the Black Women's Health Study. Environ Res 194:110651.
