ArticleEpidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.)2019
Metallic Air Pollutants and Breast Cancer Risk in a Nationwide Cohort Study.
Article in Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 118 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of Pollution on Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis with Focus on Air Pollution.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Pooled it
- Cadmium exposure and risk of breast cancer: A meta-analysis.Environmental research · 2023Pooled it
- The possible role of arsenic and gene-arsenic interactions in susceptibility to breast cancer: a systematic review.Reviews on environmental health · 2021Pooled it
- Breast Cancer Risk in Association with Atmospheric Pollution Exposure: A Meta-Analysis of Effect Estimates Followed by a Health Impact Assessment.Environmental health perspectives · 2021Pooled it
- Environmental exposures and breast cancer risk in the context of underlying susceptibility: A systematic review of the epidemiological literature.Environmental research · 2020Pooled it
- The relationship between exposure to particulate matter and breast cancer incidence and mortality: A meta-analysis.Medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Industrial point source emissions and incident breast and lung cancers: two case-control studies.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2026Article
- Long-term atmospheric exposure to particulate matter and breast cancer risk: findings from a nested case-control study in France.British journal of cancer · 2026Article
- An integrative analysis reveals the mechanism of plastic stabilizers inducing breast cancer.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Spatial Patterns of Breast Cancer Risk Associated with Industrial and Environmental Pollutants: A Scoping Review.Toxics · 2026Review
- Statistical approaches to analyse the combined effect of seven air pollutants and breast cancer risk: a case-control study nested in the French E3N-Generations cohort.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Heavy metal mixtures exposure and breast cancer risk: synergistic effects with SHBG identified by mediation and moderation models.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Causal relationship between blood metal levels and breast cancer risk: a Mendelian randomization study in East Asian populations.Discover oncology · 2025Article
- Identifying Gene Predictors of Chemicals Linked With Breast Cancer: A Machine Learning Analysis of MCF7 Cellular Transcriptomic Screening Data.Environmental and molecular mutagenesis · 2025Article
- DNA damage response inhibition is an early event in cadmium-induced breast carcinogenesis.Toxicology and applied pharmacology · 2025Article
- Lead bioaccumulation in human breast cancer tissue is associated with DNA instability and cell death resistance.Cell death discovery · 2025Article
- Industrial Air Emissions and Breast Cancer Incidence in a United States-wide Prospective Cohort.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Carcinogenic air pollutants and breast cancer risk in the Arkansas rural community health study: A nested case-control study.Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) · 2025Article
- Evaluating the impact of Carbon Emission Trading Policy on pan-cancer incidence among middle-aged and elderly populations: a quasi-natural experiment.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2025Article
- Heavy-metal associated breast cancer and colorectal cancer hot spots and their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundToxic metals show evidence of carcinogenic and estrogenic properties. However, little is known about the relationship between airborne metals and breast cancer. We evaluated the risk of breast cancer in relation to exposure to toxic metallic substances in air, individually and combined, in a US-wide cohort.
methodsSister Study participants (n = 50,884), breast cancer-free women who had a sister with breast cancer were recruited, from 2003 to 2009. The 2005 Environmental Protection Agency National Air Toxic Assessment's census-tract estimates of metal concentrations in air (antimony, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel, and selenium) were matched to participants' enrollment residence. We used Cox regression to estimate the association between quintiles of individual metals and breast cancer incidence and weighted quantile sum regression to model the association between the metal mixture and breast cancer.
resultsA total of 2,587 breast cancer cases were diagnosed during follow-up (mean = 7.4 years). In individual chemical analyses comparing the highest to lowest quintiles, postmenopausal breast cancer risk was elevated for mercury (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.3, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1, 1.5), cadmium (HR = 1.1, 95% CI, 0.96, 1.3), and lead (HR = 1.1, 95% CI, 0.98, 1.3). The weighted quantile sum index was associated with postmenopausal breast cancer (odds ratio [OR] = 1.1, 95% CI, 1.0, 1.1). Consistent with the individual chemical analysis, the most highly weighted chemicals for predicting postmenopausal breast cancer risk were lead, cadmium, and mercury. Results were attenuated for overall breast cancer.
conclusionsHigher levels of some airborne metals, specifically mercury, cadmium, and lead, were associated with a higher risk of postmenopausal breast cancer.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.