Windsor study
Questions about work history and breast cancer risk
17.10.2006 |Helen Lynn
Windsor, Ontario – Findings from a Windsor-based research project, published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Science, are raising important questions about the relationship between a woman’s work history and her risk of developing breast cancer. The study suggests that the kinds of jobs a woman has throughout her life, and the substances to which she is exposed in certain occupational settings, may impact her risk of the disease.
The Lifetime Occupational Histories Record project, a case-control study led by the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, gathered the personal, medical, and detailed occupational histories of 1,100 women from the Windsor-Essex area, including 564 women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, with the goal of identifying occupations that might be linked to an increased breast cancer risk.
Research data indicate that study participants who had been diagnosed with breast cancer were nearly three times more likely to have worked on farms than participants in the control group, many during their adolescence – a time at which developing breast tissue is thought to be especially vulnerable to toxic exposures. Findings also show that participants who worked on farms and then went on to work in automotive-related manufacturing or health care settings experienced an additional elevation in their risk of developing the disease. These findings, while suggestive, apply specifically to the group of women who participated in the study, and further research is required before their applicability to a broader population can be assessed.
“The evidence points to a possible link between increased breast cancer risk and certain occupational settings,” says Dr. James Brophy, executive director of the Occupational Health Clinic for Ontario Workers in Sarnia and the study’s co-principal investigator. “Agents present in agricultural settings may make a woman more susceptible to breast cancer, especially if she is exposed to these agents early in her life, and subsequent exposures in other settings may further compound the risk and promote disease development.”
Because particular chemical agents used in participants’ past work environments were not identified as part of the study, Brophy adds that further research is necessary in order to pinpoint the agents women have been exposed to that may explain the increased incidence of breast cancer. To that end, he and his team have recently initiated a broader study with funding from the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
“We are proud to have funded the next stage of investigation in this important primary prevention research project,” says Sharon Wood, executive director of the Foundation’s Ontario Chapter. “The findings from this type of research have the potential to drive public policy recommendations and other interventions that will help to make our living and working environments healthier.”
For more information, Dr. Brophy can be reached at either the Occupational Health Clinic for Ontario Workers in Sarnia at 519-337-4627, or at 519-331-7558. Electronic copies of the study are available online here.
