This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Raaschou-Nielsen, O. Articles by Olsen, J. H. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Raaschou-Nielsen, O. Articles by Olsen, J. H.

Adipose Organochlorine Concentrations and Risk of Breast Cancer Among Postmenopausal Danish Women

¹ Danish Cancer Society, Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Copenhagen, Denmark; ² SpecPro, Inc., San Antonio, Texas; ³ Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec, Quebec, Canada; and ⁴ Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

Requests for reprints: Ole Raaschou-Nielsen, Danish Cancer Society, Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Strandboulevarden 49, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. Phone: 45-3525-7617; Fax: 45-3525-7631. E-mail:ole{at}cancer.dk

Objective: Exposure to environmental organochlorines has been examined as a potential risk factor for human breast cancer with mixed results. Our purpose was to examine associations between organochlorines and the development of breast cancer in a large prospective study using stored adipose tissue. Methods: We conducted a nested case-control study of 409 postmenopausal women who developed breast cancer and 409 controls selected from the 29,875 women enrolled in the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health cohort between 1993 and 1997. We measured concentrations of 14 pesticides and 18 polychlorinated biphenyls in adipose tissue, collected upon enrollment, and estimated relative risk (RR) of breast cancer using conditional logistic regression. Results: The results showed no higher risk of breast cancer among women with higher levels of any pesticides or polychlorinated biphenyls; the RR associated with the upper quartile of 1,1-dichloro-2, 2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethylene concentration was 0.7 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.5-1.2] contrasting the lower quartile, and for the sum of polychlorinated biphenyls the similar risk was 1.1 (95% CI, 0.7-1.7). We observed a pattern of substantially lower risk of estrogen receptor–negative breast cancer in association with higher levels of most of the pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls; the RR for the higher quartile of 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethylene was 0.1 (95% CI, 0.0-0.5) and for the sum of polychlorinated biphenyls it was 0.3 (95% CI, 0.1-0.9). Conclusion: The results do not support that higher organochlorine body levels increase the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. The interpretation of the inverse association for estrogen receptor–negative breast cancer is currently unclear.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. G. Shields Understanding population and individual risk assessment: the case of polychlorinated biphenyls. Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., May 1, 2006; 15(5): 830 - 839. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]