ArticleCarcinogenesis2021
Hair product use and breast cancer incidence in the Black Women's Health Study.
Article in Carcinogenesis, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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
14 citing papers in PubMed, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Use of Chemical Hair Straighteners and Menstrual Disturbances.Journal of women's health (2002) · 2026Article
- Chemicals of Concern in Chemical Hair Straightening Products: A Scoping Review.Current environmental health reports · 2026Article
- Cosmetic Habits Associated With Breast Cancer in Benin: A Multicenter Case-Control Study.Journal of cosmetic dermatology · 2026Article
- Use of hair straighteners and chemical relaxers and incidence of non-reproductive cancers.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2026Article
- Current insights into breast and ovarian cancer risk: a contemporary review.Minerva surgery · 2025Review
- Validating the Black Identity, Hair Product Use, and Breast Cancer Scale (BHBS) Among Black Breast Cancer Survivors.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Hair Straightener Use in Relation to Prevalent and Incident Fibroids in the Sister Study with a Focus on Black Women.Environmental health perspectives · 2025Article
- Hepatocellular carcinoma antibodies preferably identify nitro-oxidative-DNA lesions induced by 4-Chloro-orthophenylenediamine and DEANO.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Hair product use and urinary biomarker concentrations of non-persistent endocrine disrupting chemicals among reproductive-aged Black women.Chemosphere · 2024Article
- Hair relaxer use and risk of uterine cancer in the Black Women's Health Study.Environmental research · 2023Article
- Use of Chemical Hair Straighteners and Fecundability in a North American Preconception Cohort.American journal of epidemiology · 2023Article
- Relation of circulating estrogens with hair relaxer and skin lightener use among postmenopausal women in Ghana.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2023Article
- Response to Etminan.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2023Article
- Use of Straighteners and Other Hair Products and Incident Uterine Cancer.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Hair relaxers and leave-in conditioners and oils, commonly used by Black/African American women, may contain estrogens or estrogen-disrupting compounds. Thus, their use may contribute to breast cancer risk. Results of the few previous studies on this topic are inconsistent. We assessed the relation of hair relaxer and leave-in conditioner use to breast cancer incidence in the Black Women's Health Study, a nationwide prospective study of Black women. Among 50 543 women followed from 1997 to 2017, 2311 incident breast cancers occurred. Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using Cox proportional hazards regression for breast cancer overall and by estrogen receptor (ER) status. For heavy use (≥15 years of use for ≥7 times/year) of hair relaxers relative to never/light use (<4 years, no more than 1-2 times/year), the multivariable HR for breast cancer overall was 1.13 (95%CI: 0.96-1.33). Duration, frequency, age at first use and number of scalp burns were not associated with overall breast cancer risk. For heavy use of hair relaxers containing lye, the corresponding HR for ER+ breast cancer was 1.32 (95% CI: 0.97, 1.80); there was no association for non-lye products. There was no association of conditioner use and breast cancer. Results of this study were largely null, but there was some evidence that heavy use of lye-containing hair relaxers may be associated with increased risk of ER+ breast cancer. Consistent results from several studies are needed before it can be concluded that use of certain hair relaxers impacts breast cancer development.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.