Table 2 Epidemiologic studies investigating cadmium exposure in relation to breast cancer risk according to the menopause window of susceptibility (WOS)
First author (year) | Exposure | Population | Sample size | Risk estimate | 95% CI | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cadmium exposure stratified by menopausal status | ||||||
 McElroy (2006) [165] | Urinary cadmium | Women aged 20–69 years | 246 cases and 254 controls | All ages OR 2.29 20–56 years OR 2.34 57–69 years OR 1.36 | 1.3–4.2 1.1–5.0 0.5–3.4 | Highest (≥ 0.58) vs lowest (< 0.263 μg/g) quartile |
 Gallagher (2010) [166] | Urinary cadmium | Long Island (LI), NY and NHANES women aged ≥ 30 years | LI 100 cases and 98 controls NHANES 99 cases and 3120 non-cases | All ages OR 2.81 n.s. difference by age All ages OR 2.32 30–54 years OR n.s. ≥ 55 years OR 7.25 | 1.11–7.13 0.92–5.84 n.s. 1.04–50.7 | Highest (≥ 0.60) vs lowest (< 0.22 μg/g creatinine) quartile |
 Itoh (2014) [157] | Dietary cadmium | Japanese women aged 20–74 years | 212 cases and 253 controls | All cases OR 1.04 Premeno. OR 1.01 Postmeno. OR 1.06 Post. ER+ OR 1.08 Post. ER− OR 0.99 | 1.00–1.08 0.96–1.07 1.06–1.11 1.03–1.14 0.92–1.06 | Continuous cadmium intake (μg/day) |
 Amadou (2019) [160] | Long-term airborne exposure to cadmium | E3N French cohort aged 40–65 years | 4059 cases and 4059 controls | Overall OR 0.98 Premeno OR 0.72 Postmeno. OR 1.06 ER+ OR 1.00 ER− OR 0.63 | 0.84–1.14 0.45–1.15 0.89–1.27 0.82–1.22 0.41–0.95 | Highest (> 5.47) vs lowest (≤ 0.033 mg/m2) quintile |
 Grioni (2019) [156] | Dietary cadmium | Italian cohort aged 34–70 years | 8924 total in cohort with 481 cases | Overall HR 1.54 Premeno HR 1.73 Postmeno HR 1.29 ER+ HR 1.64 ER− HR 1.30 | 1.06–2.22 1.10–2.71 0.68–2.44 1.06–2.54 0.60–2.83 | Highest (≥ 8.82) vs lowest (< 6.73 μg/day) quintile |
 O’Brien (2019) [167] | Cadmium from toenail clippings | Sister and two-sister studies aged < 50 years | 1217 sister-pairs of cases and controls | OR 1.15 | 0.82–1.60 | Highest (> 0.011) vs lowest (< 0.003 μg/g) quartile |
 White (2019) [161] | Residential census tract airborne exposure to cadmium at baseline | Sister study aged 35–74 years | 50,884 total in cohort with 2587 cases | Overall HR 1.1 Premeno 1.0 Postmeno 1.1 | 0.96– 1.3 0.78– 1.4 0.96– 1.3 | Highest vs lowest quintile |
Postmenopausal women only | ||||||
 Julin (2012) [158] | Dietary cadmium | Swedish postmenopausal women | 55,987 total in cohort with 2112 cases | All cases RR 1.21 ER+ cases RR 1.19 ER− cases RR 1.33 | 1.07–1.36 1.03–1.36 0.95–1.87 | Highest (> 16) vs lowest (< 13 μg/day) tertile |
 Adams (2012) [153] | Dietary cadmium | Postmenopausal women in VITamines And Lifestyle cohort | 30,543 total in cohort with 899 cases | HR 1.00 n.s. difference by ER status (p = 0.11) | 0.72–1.41 | Highest (> 13.3) vs lowest (< 7.48 μg/day) quartile |
 Eriksen (2014) [155] | Dietary cadmium | Danish postmenopausal women | 23,815 total in cohort with 1390 breast cancer cases | All cases IRR 0.99 ER+ IRR 1.00 ER− IRR 0.88 | 0.87–1.13 0.85–1.15 0.62–1.22 | Per 10 μg/day increase in intake |
 Adams (2014) [154] | Dietary cadmium | Postmenopausal women aged 50–79 years | 155,069 total in cohort with 6658 cases | HR 0.90 n.s. difference by ER status | 0.81–1.00 | Highest (> 14.21) vs lowest (< 7.10 μg/day) quintile |
 Adams (2016) [162] | Urinary cadmium | Postmenopausal women ages ≥ 50 years in Women’s Health Initiative | 12,701 total in cohort with 508 cases and 1050 controls | All HR 0.80 ER+ HR 0.98 ER−/PR- HR 0.88 | 0.56–1.14 0.87–1.07 0.70–1.11 | Highest (> 0.748) vs lowest (< 0.325 μg/g creatinine) quartile |
All ages | ||||||
 Sawada (2012) [159] | Dietary cadmium | Japanese women aged 45–74 years | 48,351 females total in cohort with 402 breast cancer cases | HR 0.87 | 0.61–1.23 | Highest (median 32.3) vs lowest (median 19.2 μg/day) tertile |
 Nagata (2013) [164] | Urinary cadmium | Japanese women ages ≥ 25 years | 153 cases from one hospital and 431 controls invited for breast cancer screening | OR 6.05 | 2.90–12.62 | Highest (> 2.620) vs lowest (< 1.674 μg/g creatinine) tertile |
 Gaudet (2018) [163] | Blood cadmium | Cancer Prevention Study II women 47–85 years of age | 816 cases and 816 controls | All RR 1.01 ER+ RR 0.89 ER− RR 0.96 | 0.76–1.34 0.62–1.27 0.44–2.09 | Continuous per μg/L |
Italian women aged 35–70 years | 292 cases and 294 controls | RR 0.80 | 0.61–1.03 | Continuous per μg/L | ||
Swedish women aged 30–61 years | 325 cases and 325 controls | RR 0.73 | 0.54–0.97 | Continuous per μg/L | ||
Combined 3 nested case-cohort studies | 1433 cases and 1435 controls | RR 0.84 | 0.69–1.01 | Continuous per μg/L | ||