Women in highly polluted area more likely to have breast cancer

Women in highly polluted area more likely to have breast cancer. April. 07, 2017 07:17. yskwon@donga.com.

A study has claimed that women living in areas with high air pollution are more likely to have breast cancer.

A team of researchers led by Prof. Lusine Yaghjyan of Florida University announced in the Breast Cancer Research on Thursday that women have a higher chance of having dense breasts if they live an area of fine particles known as PM2.5. Women with dense breasts — the higher proportion of other tissues rather than fat — are more likely to develop the disease.

The researchers took data of 279,967 women aged 40 or older who had mammograms in 2001 through 2009 and compared it a map of PM 2.5 by region created by the U.S. Environment Protection Agency. They found that for every unit increase in concentration of fine particles known as PM2.5, a woman’s chance of having dense breasts was increased by 4 percent. They lived in the area for an average of three years.

There had been a research that women in urban areas are more likely to have breasts with high density, but air pollution had not been named as the exact cause.

“It appear that PM 2.5 includes endocrine disrupting chemicals such as dioxin and carcinogens," Professor Yaghjyan said. "A steady exposure to these chemicals causes abnormality in hormone secretion and undermines the growth of breast cells and increases the volume of fibrous tissues.”