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Occupation and breast cancer risk among Shanghai women in a population‐based cohort study
Author(s) -
Ji BuTian,
Blair Aaron,
Shu XiaoOu,
Chow WongHo,
Hauptmann Michael,
Dosemeci Mustafa,
Yang Gong,
Lubin Jay,
Gao YuTang,
Rothman Nathaniel,
Zheng Wei
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.20507
Subject(s) - medicine , breast cancer , odds ratio , cohort , confidence interval , demography , cancer , cohort study , logistic regression , population , gynecology , obstetrics , environmental health , sociology
A total of 74,942 female subjects were recruited in a population‐based cohort study in Shanghai, China between 1997 and 2000. We examined the relationship between occupation and breast cancer risk. Methods Cases were 586 women previously diagnosed with breast cancer at baseline and 438 women newly diagnosed with breast cancer during follow‐up through December 2004. Eight controls were randomly selected for each case from cancer‐free cohort members and frequency‐matched to the cases by year of birth and age at diagnosis. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of breast cancer risk associated with occupations, adjusting for established breast cancer risk factors. Results In the prevalent breast cancer data analysis, increased risks of breast cancer were associated with technicians in engineering/agriculture/forestry (OR = 1.6, CI: 1.0–2.4), teaching personnel (OR = 1.5, CI:1.1–2.0), tailoring/sewing workers (OR = 1.6, CI:1.0–2.7), and examiners/measurers/testers (OR = 1.5, CI:1.1–2.1) among those who started the jobs at least 20 years ago. Among incident breast cancer cases, significantly increased risks were associated with medical/health care workers (OR = 1.4, CI:1.0–2.0), administrative clerical workers (OR = 1.5, CI:1.0–2.4), postal/telecommunication workers (OR = 2.2, CI:1.0–5.5), and odd‐job workers (OR = 1.7, CI:1.1–2.8) among those who started the jobs at least 20 years ago. The excess risks were found in both prevalent and incident cases for postal/telecommunication workers and purchasing/marketing personnel, although ORs reached only marginal significance. Conclusions: This study suggests that white‐collar professionals and several production occupations may be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. Am. J. Ind. Med. 51:100–110, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.