title: Night-shift work and breast cancer risk in a cohort of Chinese women.
abstract: Shift work involving disruption of circadian rhythms has been classified as a probable cause of human cancer by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, based on limited epidemiologic evidence and abundant experimental evidence. The authors investigated this association in a population-based prospective cohort study of Chinese women. At baseline (1996-2000), information on lifetime occupational history was obtained from 73,049 women. Lifetime night-shift exposure indices were created using a job exposure matrix. During 2002-2004, self-reported data on frequency and duration of night-shift work were collected. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals, adjusted for major breast cancer risk factors, were calculated. During follow-up through 2007, 717 incident cases of breast cancer were diagnosed. Breast cancer risk was not associated with ever working the night shift on the basis of the job exposure matrix (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.0, 95% confidence interval: 0.9, 1.2) or self-reported history of night-shift work (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.9, 95% confidence interval: 0.7, 1.1). Risk was also not associated with frequency, duration, or cumulative amount of night-shift work. There were no indications of effect modification. The lack of an association between night-shift work and breast cancer adds to the inconsistent epidemiologic evidence. It may be premature to consider shift work a cause of cancer.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, 6120 Executive Blvd., EPS 8111, MSC 7240, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Anjoeka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pronk
authors.forename: Bu-Tian
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Xiao-Ou
authors.initials: XO
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.forename: Shouzheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Gong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hong-Lan
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Nathaniel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rothman
authors.forename: Yu-Tang
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Wong-Ho
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Chow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002681:China; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance