Annual Meeting of the NCI Cohort Consortium (Abstract Submission): Submission #3

Submission information
Submission Number: 3
Submission ID: 186180
Submission UUID: 267cbc4b-6bcd-440e-9a8a-be8bfe1b32a9

Created: Thu, 07/09/2026 - 14:22
Completed: Thu, 07/09/2026 - 14:25
Changed: Thu, 07/09/2026 - 14:25

Remote IP address: 10.208.24.52
Submitted by: Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No
First Name Jessica
Middle Initial
Last Name Madrigal
Degree(s) PhD, MS
Position/Title/Career Status Associate Professor
Organization University of Illinois
Email jmadri1@uis.edu
List of Additional Authors
  • First Name: Caroline
    Last Name: Pruitt
    Degrees: MPH
    Affiliation: Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health
  • First Name: Jared
    Last Name: Fisher
    Degrees: Phd
    Affiliation: Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health
  • First Name: Julie
    Last Name: Palmer
    Degrees: PhD
    Affiliation: Slone Epidemiology Center, Boston University
  • First Name: Kimberly
    Last Name: Bertrand
    Degrees: PhD
    Affiliation: Slone Epidemiology Center, Boston University
  • First Name: Rena
    Last Name: Jones
    Degrees: PhD, MS
    Affiliation: Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health
Abstract Title Chemical and metal emissions from industrial sources and breast cancer risk in the Black Women’s Health Study
Abstract Background: Industrial facilities emit known mammary carcinogens and endocrine disrupting chemicals to air, including chemicals associated with breast cancer in epidemiological studies of post-menopausal and non-Hispanic White women. We investigated these relationships in a prospective cohort of Black women.

Methods: We used the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxics Release Inventory to estimate historical airborne emissions (1987-1995) of 19 chemicals and metals with prior evidence of mammary carcinogenicity and/or estrogenicity among 49,256 premenopausal and postmenopausal women enrolled (1995) in the Black Women’s Health Study. A total of 3,585 breast cancers were diagnosed through 2021. We constructed inverse distance- and wind-weighted average emissions metrics for each chemical within 2, 5 and 10km of the enrollment address. We estimated multivariable adjusted (age, region, smoking, parity, body mass index) HRs and 95% CIs for exposure tertiles (T) or quartiles (Q) in association with breast cancer risk.

Results: For cobalt exposure within 2km of the home, the HR for the highest tertile of exposure vs. non-exposed was 1.38, CI=0.97-1.98; p-trend=0.06. The association was attenuated for exposure within 5km (HRT3 vs. non-exposed=1.13, CI=0.96-1.32; p-trend=0.13) and 10km (HRT3 vs. non-exposed=1.06, CI=0.95-1.18; p-trend=0.34). For lead exposure within 2km of the home, the HR for the highest quartile versus non-exposed was 1.21, CI=0.81-1.78; p-trend=0.32; the HRs were similarly weakened at 5km and 10km. Associations with other chemicals and metals were null or lacked clear patterns.

Conclusion: Suggestive findings of increased breast cancer risk in association with relatively high air emissions of cobalt and lead from industrial sources near the home warrant further study.