Abstract

The incidence of breast cancer has increased in India in the last decades. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in urban areas and the second most common in rural areas of India. Changes in women’s life style (e.g. in physical activity, diet and reproductive behaviours) may account in part for the increasing incidence. However, environmental and occupational exposures, such as exposure to pesticides, may be also associated with the increasing incidence, especially in rural area where many women do not present risk factors related to reproductive behaviours or body composition. There have been relatively few studies of these issues in low-and-middle-income countries such as India, where occupational and environmental exposures may be high. The aim of our study is to investigate environmental and occupational risk factors for breast cancer in women aged 30–64 years in an agricultural region of India. The current report focuses on the findings for woman’s occupation and husband’s occupation.

Between 2012–2015 we enrolled 404 hospital-based breast cancer cases (International Classification of Diseases for Oncology code C5) and 361 hospital-based and population-based controls matched by age and hospital/district and area type (i.e urban, semi-urban, rural). We collected information of both participant and husband’s lifetime occupation, according to India’s National Classification of Occupations (comparable to ISCO), through interviewer-administrated questionnaire. Detailed information on demographic characteristics, medical history, lifestyle and reproductive behaviours was also collected, and objective anthropometric measures were recorded.

We are currently preparing the data set to conduct the analysis. We will conduct logistic regression adjusted for potential confounders (including area type, age at diagnosis, first birth and number of children, breastfeeding, hours of rigorous physical activity, total fat and kilocalorie intake) and we will evaluate dose-response relationships according to duration, frequency and intensity of exposure. Results will we availabe before the EPICOH conference.