Occupational exposure to endocrine disrupting substances and the risk of breast Cancer: the Singapore Chinese health study

Background Evidence from basic research links exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) with a higher risk for breast cancer. However, there is less evidence from observational epidemiological research and the results are equivocal. Therefore, we examined the association between occupational exposure to substances where exposure to EDCs is likely and the risk of breast cancer. Methods A prospective study consisting of a population-based cohort of 33,458 Singaporean Chinese women aged 45–74 years enrolled in the Singapore Chinese Health Study (SCHS) from 1993 to 98 and followed through 2014. Subjects’ self-reported occupational exposure and duration to industries, job titles, and substance types were garnered at baseline, and cases of incident breast cancer (N = 988) were determined by linkage with the Singapore Cancer Registry. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated for exposure to substances, job titles, and industries. Results There was no association between cumulative exposure to substances via occupation where EDC exposure is likely and risk of breast cancer. These results were consistent for hypothesized high (HR 0.94, 95% CI: 0.66–1.35), medium (HR 1.03 95% CI: 0.77–1.38) and low (HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.48–1.13) combined substance exposure groups when compared with those who were not exposed via occupation. Similar null associations were observed when examining job titles and industry categories. Conclusions There was no association between EDC related occupational exposures and breast cancer risk in working women of the Singaporean Chinese Health Study. Future studies that employ rigorous methods with regard to exposure assessment of EDCs are needed. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-018-5862-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.