TY - JOUR
T1 - Skin lighteners and hair relaxers as risk factors for breast cancer
T2 - Results from the Ghana breast health study
AU - Brinton, Louise A.
AU - Figueroa, Jonine D.
AU - Ansong, Daniel
AU - Nyarko, Kofi M.
AU - Wiafe, Seth
AU - Yarney, Joel
AU - Biritwum, Richard
AU - Brotzman, Michelle
AU - Thistle, Jake E.
AU - Adjei, Ernest
AU - Aitpillah, Francis
AU - Dedey, Florence
AU - Edusei, Lawrence
AU - Titiloye, Nicholas
AU - Awuah, Baffour
AU - Clegg-Lamptey, Joe Nat
AU - Wiafe-Addai, Beatrice
AU - Vanderpuye, Verna
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/4/5
Y1 - 2018/4/5
N2 - Skin lighteners and hair relaxers, both common among women of African descent, have been suggested as possibly affecting breast cancer risk. In Accra and Kumasi, Ghana, we collected detailed information on usage patterns of both exposures among 1131 invasive breast cancer cases and 2106 population controls. Multivariate analyses estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) after adjustment for breast cancer risk factors. Control usage was 25.8% for ever use of skin lighteners and 90.0% for use of hair relaxers for >1 year. The OR for skin lighteners was 1.10 (95% CI 0.93- 1.32), with higher risks for former (1.21, 0.98-1.50) than current (0.96, 0.74-1.24) users. No significant dose-response relations were seen by duration, age at first use or frequency of use. In contrast, an OR of 1.58 (95% CI 1.15-2.18) was associated with use of hair relaxers, with higher risks for former (2.22, 1.56-3.16) than current (1.39, 1.00-1.93) users. Although numbers of burns were inconsistently related to risk, associations increased with duration of use, restricted to women who predominately used non-lye products (P for trend < 0.01). This was most pronounced among women with few children and those with smaller tumors, suggesting a possible role for other unmeasured lifestyle factors. This study does not implicate a substantial role for skin lighteners as breast cancer risk factors, but the findings regarding hair relaxers were less reassuring. The effects of skin lighteners and hair relaxers on breast cancer should continue to be monitored, especially given some biologic plausibility for their affecting risk.
AB - Skin lighteners and hair relaxers, both common among women of African descent, have been suggested as possibly affecting breast cancer risk. In Accra and Kumasi, Ghana, we collected detailed information on usage patterns of both exposures among 1131 invasive breast cancer cases and 2106 population controls. Multivariate analyses estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) after adjustment for breast cancer risk factors. Control usage was 25.8% for ever use of skin lighteners and 90.0% for use of hair relaxers for >1 year. The OR for skin lighteners was 1.10 (95% CI 0.93- 1.32), with higher risks for former (1.21, 0.98-1.50) than current (0.96, 0.74-1.24) users. No significant dose-response relations were seen by duration, age at first use or frequency of use. In contrast, an OR of 1.58 (95% CI 1.15-2.18) was associated with use of hair relaxers, with higher risks for former (2.22, 1.56-3.16) than current (1.39, 1.00-1.93) users. Although numbers of burns were inconsistently related to risk, associations increased with duration of use, restricted to women who predominately used non-lye products (P for trend < 0.01). This was most pronounced among women with few children and those with smaller tumors, suggesting a possible role for other unmeasured lifestyle factors. This study does not implicate a substantial role for skin lighteners as breast cancer risk factors, but the findings regarding hair relaxers were less reassuring. The effects of skin lighteners and hair relaxers on breast cancer should continue to be monitored, especially given some biologic plausibility for their affecting risk.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85045212111&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/carcin/bgy002
DO - 10.1093/carcin/bgy002
M3 - Article
C2 - 29324997
AN - SCOPUS:85045212111
SN - 0143-3334
VL - 39
SP - 571
EP - 579
JO - Carcinogenesis
JF - Carcinogenesis
IS - 4
ER -