Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jan 15;146(2):341-351.
doi: 10.1002/ijc.32257. Epub 2019 Apr 1.

Chronic long-term exposure to cadmium air pollution and breast cancer risk in the French E3N cohort

Amina Amadou  1   2 , Delphine Praud  1   3 , Thomas Coudon  1   4 , Aurélie M N Danjou  5 , Elodie Faure  1 , Karen Leffondré  6 , Muriel Le Romancer  3 , Gianluca Severi  7 , Pietro Salizzoni  4 , Francesca Romana Mancini  7 , Béatrice Fervers  1   2
Affiliations

Chronic long-term exposure to cadmium air pollution and breast cancer risk in the French E3N cohort

Amina Amadou et al. Int J Cancer. .

Erratum in

  • Erratum.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] Int J Cancer. 2020 May 1;146(9):E1-E4. doi: 10.1002/ijc.32873. Epub 2020 Jan 31. Int J Cancer. 2020. PMID: 32150300 No abstract available.

Abstract

Cadmium, due to its estrogen-like activity, has been suspected to increase the risk of breast cancer; however, epidemiological studies have reported inconsistent findings. We conducted a case-control study (4,059 cases and 4,059 matched controls) nested within the E3N French cohort study to estimate the risk of breast cancer associated with long-term exposure to airborne cadmium pollution, and its effect according to molecular subtype of breast cancer (estrogen receptor negative/positive [ER-/ER+] and progesterone receptor negative/positive [PR-/PR+]). Atmospheric exposure to cadmium was assessed using a Geographic Information System-based metric, which included subject's residence-to-cadmium source distance, wind direction, exposure duration and stack height. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using conditional logistic regression. Overall, there was no significant association between cumulative dose of airborne cadmium exposure and the risk of overall, premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer. However, by ER and PR status, inverse associations were observed for ER- (ORQ5 vs. Q1 = 0.63; 95% CI: 0.41-0.95, ptrend = 0.043) and for ER-/PR- breast tumors (ORQ4 vs. Q1 = 0.62; 95% CI: 0.40-0.95, ORQ5 vs. Q1 = 0.68; 95% CI: 0.42-1.07, ptrend = 0.088). Our study provides no evidence of an association between exposure to cadmium and risk of breast cancer overall but suggests that cadmium might be related to a decreased risk of ER- and ER-/PR- breast tumors. These observations and other possible effects linked to hormone receptor status warrant further investigations.

Keywords: airborne cadmium; breast cancer risk; geographic information system; hormone receptor status.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. GBD 2015 Risk Factors Collaborators. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks. Lancet 2016;388:1659-724.
    1. Cohen AJ, Brauer M, Burnett R, et al. Estimates and 25-year trends of the global burden of disease attributable to ambient air pollution: an analysis of data from the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2015. Lancet 2017;389:1907-18.
    1. Loomis D, Grosse Y, Lauby-Secretan B, et al. The carcinogenicity of outdoor air pollution. Lancet Oncol 2013;14:1262-3.
    1. DeSantis CE, Bray F, Ferlay J, et al. International variation in female breast cancer incidence and mortality rates. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2015;24:1495-506.
    1. Mezynska M, Brzoska MM. Environmental exposure to cadmium-a risk for health of the general population in industrialized countries and preventive strategies. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 2018;25:3211-32.

Publication types

MeSH terms