NIH Study Released November 5 Links Two Forever Chemicals to Aggressive Breast Cancer Risk: Highest Exposure Groups Show 67 Percent and 93 Percent Higher Rates
The National Institutes of Health reported on November 5 that women with higher blood levels of two per and polyfluoroalkyl substances, perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, were more likely to develop estrogen receptor negative breast cancer. The two substances belong to the PFAS group known as forever chemicals, which do not break down easily in the environment and can remain in the body for years. No clear association was observed between the two chemicals and breast cancer risk overall. The findings are reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Researchers measured 17 PFAS in blood collected years before the women were diagnosed with cancer. Women in the group with the highest perfluorooctanoic acid levels had a 67 percent higher rate of estrogen receptor negative breast cancer than those in the lowest group, and for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid the rate was 93 percent higher, nearly twice as high. The institutes note that these numbers describe relative differences between groups, not an individual woman's chance of getting breast cancer.
The research drew on the Sister Study, led by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, which enrolled 50,884 women ages 35 to 74 in the United States and Puerto Rico from 2003 to 2009, none of whom had breast cancer when they joined but each of whom had a sister previously diagnosed. The analysis included 1,609 women who developed breast cancer and a comparison sample of 2,269 women. Alexandra White, an NIH Stadtman Investigator who led the study, said the findings were confirmed using a meta analysis of prior research, and noted that the two legacy chemicals have been largely phased out and replaced with newer PFAS compounds whose risks require more research. This report presents the study's facts only and offers no individual health advice.
Source: National Institutes of Health
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国国家环境卫生科学研究所主楼（资料图）。美国国立卫生研究院摄，维基共享资源，公有领域。 / Photo: The main building of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (file photo). Photo by the National Institutes of Health, Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
