Environment and Breast Cancer: Science Review


Evidence From Humans
 
Print this page
Residential proximity to agricultural pesticide use and incidence of breast cancer in the California Teachers Study cohort
Reynolds, P., Hurley, S. E., Goldberg, D. E., Yerabati, S., Gunier, R. B., Hertz, A., Anton-Culver, H., Bernstein, L., Deapen, D., Horn-Ross, P. L., Peel, D., Pinder, R., Ross, R. K., West, D., Wright, W. E., Ziogas, A. Environmental Research. 2004. 96:2, 206-18.
Topic area
Environmental pollutant - Pesticides
Study design
Nested case-control
Study Participants
Menopausal Status
The menopausal status of women included in this study is listed here.
Pre menopausal
Post menopausal
Participant selection: Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Criteria used to select participants in the study.
Participants of the California Teachers Study. Women diagnosed with breast cancer prior to completing their baseline questionnaire were excluded.
Exposures investigated
Address information was combined with California state records about pesticide application to assess each participant's residential pesticide exposure potential.
How exposure was measured
GIS/geographic location
Statistical Analysis
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, race, SES, urbanization.
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
Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate hazard ratios.
Strength of associations reported
No hazard ratios above 1.15 were seen for any category of pesticide (probable or likely human carcinogen, possible or suggestive human carcinogens, mammary carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, anticholinesterases).
Results Comments
Exposure misclassification is likely given other possible routes of exposure to pesticides aside from application near the place of residence.
Author address
Environmental Health Investigations Branch, California Department of Health Services, 1515 Clay Street, Suite 1700, Oakland, CA 94612, USA. preynold@dhs.ca.gov