ArticleAmerican journal of epidemiology2021
Metals and Breast Cancer Risk: A Prospective Study Using Toenail Biomarkers.
Article in American journal of epidemiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- "We adjusted for race": now what? A systematic review of utilization and reporting of race in American Journal of Epidemiology and Epidemiology, 2020-2021.Epidemiologic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Trace Element Content in Fingernails of Vietnamese Men with Laryngeal Cancer: Cumulative Exposure Assessment.Biological trace element research · 2026Article
- Assessment of metal exposure in fingernails of patients with nasopharyngeal cancer: a case study in Vietnamese men.Biometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine · 2026Article
- Altered trace and toxic element profiles in breast tissue: a case-control study of cancer risk.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Essential and non-essential metals in children's intellectual functioning: A multi-media biomarker approach from a Mexico City birth cohort.Environmental research · 2025Article
- Prediagnostic whole-blood cadmium and molybdenum associated with pancreatic cancer in an American cohort.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Industrial Air Emissions and Breast Cancer Incidence in a United States-wide Prospective Cohort.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Modification Effects of Homologous Recombination Repair Gene Polymorphisms on the Associations Between Urinary Metals and Breast Cancer Risk.Biological trace element research · 2025Article
- Exploring the Potential Link between Aluminum-Containing Deodorants/Antiperspirants and Breast Cancer: A Comprehensive Review.Current medicinal chemistry · 2025Review
- Heavy-metal associated breast cancer and colorectal cancer hot spots and their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2024Article
- Residential proximity to toxic metal-emitting industrial sites and toenail metal concentrations in a United States-wide prospective cohort.Environmental research · 2024Article
- Blood molybdenum level as a marker of cancer risk on BRCA1 carriers.Hereditary cancer in clinical practice · 2024Article
- Article
- Domestic dogs as environmental sentinel in comparative toxicologic pathology: Assessment of metals and rare earth elements concentrations in healthy and neoplastic mammary glands.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2024Article
- Seasonal patterns in trace elements assessed in toenails.Environmental advances · 2024Article
- Toenail and serum levels as biomarkers of iron status in pre- and postmenopausal women: correlations and stability over eight-year follow-up.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Methods in Public Health Environmental Justice Research: a Scoping Review from 2018 to 2021.Current environmental health reports · 2023Article
- Serum Essential Trace Element Status in Women and the Risk of Endometrial Diseases: a Case-Control Study : Serum Essential Trace Element Status in Women and the Risk of Endometrial Diseases: a Case-Control Study.Biological trace element research · 2023Article
- Residential Proximity to Metal-Containing Superfund Sites and Their Potential as a Source of Disparities in Metal Exposure among U.S. Women.Environmental health perspectives · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The role of metals in breast cancer is of interest because of their carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting capabilities. Evidence from epidemiologic studies remains elusive, and prior studies have not investigated metal mixtures. In a case cohort nested within the Sister Study (enrolled in 2003-2009; followed through September 2017), we measured concentrations of 15 metals in toenails collected at enrollment in a race/ethnicity-stratified sample of 1,495 cases and a subcohort of 1,605 women. We estimated hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for each metal using Cox regression and robust variance. We used quantile g-computation to estimate the joint association between multiple metals and breast cancer risk. The average duration of follow-up was 7.5 years. There was little evidence supporting an association between individual metals and breast cancer. An exception was molybdenum, which was associated with reduced incidence of overall breast cancer risk (third tertile vs. first tertile: hazard ratio = 0.82, 95% confidence interval: 0.67, 1.00). An inverse association for antimony was observed among non-Hispanic Black women. Predefined groups of metals (all metals, nonessential metals, essential metals, and metalloestrogens) were not strongly associated with breast cancer. This study offers little support for metals, individually or as mixtures, as risk factors for breast cancer. Mechanisms for inverse associations with some metals warrant further study.
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