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Occupational Exposure to Extremely Low-Frequency Magnetic Fields and Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Risk
Saeedeh Moayedi-Nia1, Chelsea Almadin, France Labrèche
1From the Health Innovation and Evaluation Hub, University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM), Montreal, Quebec, Canada (S.M.-N., C.A., L.R., V.H.); Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (F.L.); Centre de Recherche en Santé Publique (CReSP), University of Montréal and CIUSSS Centre-Sud, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (F.L.); Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (M.S.G.); Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain (E.C.); Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain (E.C.); Spanish Consortium for Research and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain (E.C.); and Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (V.H.).
Objective:
To estimate the association between occupational exposures to extremely low-frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) and postmenopausal breast cancer.
Methods:
Lifetime job histories from a population-based case-control study (2008 to 2011) of histologically confirmed breast cancer in Montréal, Canada, were linked to a job-exposure matrix to assign geometric mean ELF-MF exposure/workday. Logistic regression estimated odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for cumulative, average, maximum, and duration of maximum exposure to ELF-MFs (per interquartile range increase), adjusting for individual-level and ecological covariables.
Results:
Data from 663 cases and 592 controls revealed no association between occupational ELF-MF exposure and postmenopausal breast cancer, though restricting exposures to 0 to 10 years before interview and to those during breast development, some positive associations was observed, particularly for ER+/PR+ tumors.
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest no association between occupational ELF-MF exposure and postmenopausal breast cancer risk.
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