Shift work and breast cancer among women textile workers in Shanghai, China

Details

• Personal Author:
  Breslow N ; Camp JE ; Checkoway, Harvey ; Davis S ; Fitzgibbons ED ; Gao DL ; Li W ; Ray RM ; Thomas DB ; Wernli KJ ; Wong E ; Yost M
• Description:
  PURPOSE: Although night-shift work has been associated with elevated risk of breast cancer in numerous epidemiologic studies, evidence is not consistent. We conducted a nested case-cohort study to investigate a possible association between shift work including a night shift and risk of breast cancer within a large cohort of women textile workers in Shanghai, China. METHODS: The study included 1,709 incident breast cancer cases and 4,780 non-cases. Data on historical shift work schedules were collected by categorized jobs from the factories, where the study subjects had worked, and then were linked to the complete work histories of each subject. No jobs in the factories involved exclusively night-shift work. Therefore, night shift was evaluated as part of a rotating shift work pattern. Hazard ratios and 95 % confidence intervals were calculated using Cox proportional hazards modeling adapted for the case-cohort design for years of night-shift work and the total number of nights worked. Additionally, analyses were repeated with exposures lagged by 10 and 20 years. RESULTS: We observed no associations with either years of night-shift work or number of nights worked during the entire employment period, irrespective of lag intervals. Findings from the age-stratified analyses were very similar to those observed for the entire study population. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this study provide no evidence to support the hypothesis that shift work increases breast cancer risk. The positive association between shift work and breast cancer observed in Western populations, but not observed in this and other studies of the Chinese population, suggests that the effect of shift work on breast cancer risk may be different in Asian and Caucasian women. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Cohort Studies Neoplasms Occupational Health Race Factors Radiation Dosimeters Safety Shift Work Schedule Textile Industry Women
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Breast Cancer Breast Cancer Cancer Cohort Studies Dose-response Dose Response Dosimetry Humans Night-shift Work Racial Factors Shift Work Shift Workers Statistical Analysis Textiles Textiles Industry Textile Workers

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• ISSN:
  0957-5243
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  143-150
• Volume:
  26
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047650
• Citation:
  Cancer Causes Control 2015 Jan; 26(1):143-150
• Contact Point Address:
  W. Li, Program in Epidemiology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave. N., Mailbox: M4 A-402, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
• Email:
  wli@fhcrc.org
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Performing Organization:
  Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20040701
• Source Full Name:
  Cancer Causes and Control
• End Date:
  20081231
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:facf39b6fd55e7dfed19d71fc496f5cc00019ec162391aace6896854e3a79bc2f4bb73f646d51360374bbf89eb806529fed7f643ce270594d607b2832ef071c5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/202664/cdc_202664_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 210.33 KB ]