Personal Talc Use and Incident Lung Cancer

Talc is a known risk factor for some lung diseases due to its small particle size, commonly aerosolized form, and possible contamination with asbestos, a known lung carcinogen. Personal talc-based body powder (talc) use is common among U.S. women, but the association of talc use and lung cancer has not been studied in non-occupational settings.

At enrollment (2003-2009), Sister Study participants reported talc use in the last year and ages 10-13. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate covariate-adjusted hazards ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations between talc use and incident lung cancer.

Among 49,592 eligible women, 41% reported using talc in the last year and 641 reported a new lung cancer diagnosis. Self-reported talc use was not consistently associated with incident lung cancer: HR=0.91 (95% CI: 0.78-1.07) for talc use in the last year; HR=0.94 (0.80, 1.10) for talc use ages 10-13.

No consistent associations were observed between talc use and lung cancer overall, though some suggestive positive associations observed among never-smokers and for lung adenocarcinomas may warrant further investigation.

Population-based research on personal care product use is critical to improving our understanding of the impacts of potentially harmful substances, and their known or unknown contaminants, on human health.