Association of Blood Lead Level and Breast Cancer Risk in US Women: A Cross-Sectional Study(NHANES 2003-2014)

Background: Environmental chemical exposures may play a important role in breast cancer etiology.Higher levels of exposure to environmental chemicals, such as heavy metals, may be associated with a high risk of patients with breast cancer, but the evidence is limited and inconsistent. Thus, In the current study, we used National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data to to assess the influence of blood lead on risk of patients with breast cancer. Methods: : This cross-section study was conducted by extracting data from NHANES database(2003-2014). Logistic regression was applied to explore the association between the blood lead and the incidence of breast cancer. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confifidence interval (CI) of association between blood lead and the risk of breast cancer adjusted for confounder factors. Results: : A total of 10153 participants were included. Elevated blood levels of lead was associated with higher risks of breast cancer ( OR 1.16; 95% CI, 1.09–1.22)in the unadjusted analysis.But after adjustment for established risk factors, we did not observe significant association between blood levels and breast cancer risk ( OR 1.00; 95% CI, 0.95–1.15). Conclusion: We found no significant association between elevated blood lead levels and high risk of breast cancer in our cross-section study.