Environment and Breast Cancer: Science Review

Breast cancer risk associated with congeners of polychlorinated biphenyls
Risk of female breast cancer associated with serum polychlorinated biphenyls and 1,1-dichloro-2,2'-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethylene
Zheng, T., Holford, T. R., Tessari, J., Mayne, S. T., Owens, P. H., Ward, B., Carter, D., Boyle, P., Dubrow, R., Archibeque-Engle, S., Zahm, S. H. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2000. 152:1, 50-8.

Topic area
Environmental pollutant - Organochlorine, PCB
Environmental pollutant - Organochlorine, PCB
Study design
Hospital based case-control
Hospital based case-control

Study Participants
Number of Cases
304
304
Menopausal Status
Post menopausal
The menopausal status of women included in this study is listed here.
Pre menopausalPost menopausal
Number of Controls
Controls: 186
Controls: 186
Participant selection: Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Criteria used to select participants in the study.
Case and controls were women undergoing breast related surgeries at Yale-New Haven hospital. Controls were patients diagnosed with benign breast disease, or with normal breast tissue.
Exposures investigated
Breast adipose tissue concentration of PCBs.
Breast adipose tissue concentration of PCBs.
How exposure was measured
Biological
Biological
Breast cancer outcome investigated
Primary breast cancer
Primary breast cancer
Ethnic groups with separate analysis
If this study provided a separate analysis by ethnic or racial group, the groups are listed here.
No
Confounders considered
Other breast cancer risk factors, such as family history, age at first birth, and hormone replacement therapy use, that were taken into account in the study.
Age, BMI, duration of lactation, age at menarche, age at first full-term pregnancy, fat consumption, income, race, family breast cancer history.
Genetic characterization included
If the study analyzed relationships between environmental factors and inherited genetic variations, this field will be marked “Yes.” “No”, if not.
No
Description of major analysis
Unconditional logistic regression.
Unconditional logistic regression.
Strength of associations reported
No associations seen for Total PCBs, overall, or by parity, BMI, breastfeeding status, menopausal status, or by congener grouping.
No elevated risks were seen for the individual congeners 187, 74, 118, 138, 153, 170, 180, or 183.
No associations seen for Total PCBs, overall, or by parity, BMI, breastfeeding status, menopausal status, or by congener grouping.
No elevated risks were seen for the individual congeners 187, 74, 118, 138, 153, 170, 180, or 183.

Author address
Department of Epidemiology, Yale University School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA. tongzhang.zheng@yale.edu Yale University School of Medicine and Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA. tongzhang.zheng@yale.edu
Department of Epidemiology, Yale University School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA. tongzhang.zheng@yale.edu Yale University School of Medicine and Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA. tongzhang.zheng@yale.edu