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Association between outdoor light at night and breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women

Date:
June 3, 2020
Source:
Wiley
Summary:
Outdoor light at night was linked to a higher risk of breast cancer in a recent study.
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Outdoor light at night was linked to a higher risk of breast cancer in a study published in the International Journal of Cancer.

For the study, investigators analyzed residential outdoor light at night estimated from satellite imagery in 1996 and assessed rates of breast cancer over 16 years of follow-up in 186,981 postmenopausal women.

Compared with the lowest level of exposure to outdoor light at night, the highest exposure was associated with a 10% higher risk of developing breast cancer during follow-up, after controlling for confounding factors.

"The small number of studies to investigate this question have often relied on subjective exposure data and yielded inconsistent results. We utilized an objective exposure measure -- estimated outdoor light at night from satellite data," said senior author Rena Jones, PhD, MS, of the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. "It will be important for future studies to accurately measure light at night exposure for individuals using a combination of objective measures, carefully designed questionnaires, and personal measurement devices."


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Materials provided by Wiley. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Qian Xiao, Peter James, Patrick Breheny, Peng Jia, Yikyung Park, Dong Zhang, Jared A. Fisher, Mary H. Ward, Rena R. Jones. Outdoor light at night and postmenopausal breast cancer risk in the NIH‐AARP diet and health study. International Journal of Cancer, 2020; DOI: 10.1002/ijc.33016

Cite This Page:

Wiley. "Association between outdoor light at night and breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 3 June 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200603100432.htm>.
Wiley. (2020, June 3). Association between outdoor light at night and breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 6, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200603100432.htm
Wiley. "Association between outdoor light at night and breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200603100432.htm (accessed October 6, 2024).

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