title: Do work-related breast cancer risks in pre-menopausal women depend on family history?
abstract: Our objective was to determine work-related pre-menopausal breast cancer risks that depend on a woman's family history of the disease. In a large case-control study, 318 women with breast cancer and 340 healthy women completed a mailed questionnaire. All of the women were pre-menopausal and controls were matched to cases by age. All risk estimates were adjusted for women's smoking history and whether they reported a prior breast biopsy. There was an odds ratio (OR) of 6.9 (95% confidence interval: 1.5-31.9) for breast cancer among pre-menopausal women with no family history if they ever worked in material processing occupations. Among women with a family history of breast cancer, there was an OR of 6.4 (0.7-55.9) if they ever worked as miscellaneous salesclerks and salespersons of commodities, and an OR of 5.7 (0.6-50.9) if they ever worked in department stores. Despite changes in the OR, none of the estimates were significantly different in women with and without a family history.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Control Research Program, BC Cancer Agency, 600 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5Z 4E6. cbajdik@bccancer.bc.ca
authors.forename: Chris D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Bajdik
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Pierre R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Band
authors.forename: Nhu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: Richard P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Gallagher
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry / Q000145:classification; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D009790:Occupations / Q000145:classification; D016017:Odds Ratio; D017697:Premenopause; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking