International Journal of Epidemiology 2000;29:622-628
© International Epidemiological Association 2000
A prospective study of job strain and risk of breast cancer
a Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
b Department of Health and Social Behavior, and the Harvard Center for Society and Health,
c Department of Epidemiology, and the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Reprint requests to: Ichiro Kawachi, Department of Health and Social Behavior, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. E-mail: Ichiro.Kawachi{at}channing.harvard.edu
Background There is conflicting evidence on whether stress is a risk factor for breast cancer. The present study examined prospectively the relationship between stress at work and risk of breast cancer.
Methods Participants comprised 26 936 postmenopausal women in the Nurses' Health Study ages 46–72 who were in paid employment, and who had no previous history of cancer. Multivariate-adjusted regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between job strain (measured by the Karasek Job Content Questionnaire in 1992) and risk of incident invasive and in situ breast cancer.
Results From 1992 through 1994, 219 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. No evidence was found for a relationship between job stress and risk of breast cancer. Compared with women in low strain jobs, the multivariate-adjusted relative risks of breast cancer were RR = 0.78 (95% CI : 0.52–1.16) for high-strain jobs; RR = 0.76 (95% CI : 0.49–1.17) for active jobs; and RR = 0.94 (95% CI : 0.67–1.34) for passive jobs. Although job strain was related to less breast cancer screening among women in highly demanding jobs, it was not associated with tumour size.
Conclusions Job stress was not related to an increase in the incidence of breast cancer in the present cohort of nurses.
Keywords Breast cancer, stress, work
Accepted 10 January 2000
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