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Breast Cancer Health Disparities and Prevention

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Women's Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2020) | Viewed by 14169

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Parisa Tehranifar

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Guest Editor

Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY 10032, USA
Interests: breast cancer epidemiology; cancer screening; cancer prevention; disparities/inequalities in health; immigrant health; minority health; social epidemiology; social factors in health; environmental risk factors; life-course approach to prevention; epigenetics; women’s health

Dr. Jasmine A. McDonald

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Guest Editor

Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY 10032, USA
Interests: longitudinal studies; adolescent health; breastfeeding; child health and development; cancer breast; chronic disease; disparities/inequalities in health; minority health; women's health; life-course approach to prevention; risk factors; environmental risk factors; molecular epidemiology; epigenetics; gene–environment interactions; infectious disease

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in females in most regions of the world. In the United States (U.S.), breast cancer accounts for 30% of all newly identified cancers and 14% of all cancer deaths in women. Breast cancer risk is shaped by exposures and risk factors across the life-course, particularly those experienced in life periods marked by significant growth, and developmental and reproductive changes (windows of susceptibility) such as childhood, puberty, pregnancy, and menopausal transition. Additionally, substantial and widespread breast cancer disparities exist within the U.S. and worldwide. For example, breast cancer mortality is significantly higher in low-resource countries relative to middle- to high-resource countries. In the U.S., African American and Hispanic women have significantly higher probabilities of presenting with later breast cancer stages and poorer prognostic factors, and experience higher mortality after breast cancer than non-Hispanic white women; similar patterns have been documented across population groups defined by socioeconomic status, healthcare access, and immigration. Primary and secondary prevention of breast cancer that identifies and addresses modifiable environmental factors and improve screening and early detection can contribute to reducing breast cancer mortality, morbidity, and related disparities.

This Special Issue seeks to highlight the latest research, knowledge, and work in addressing environmental factors underlying breast cancer risk and early detection. We seek reviews and original research on environmental influences on breast cancer risk and early detection including primary and secondary prevention interventions and programs and policies that address broadly defined environmental risk factors for breast cancer. Priority will be given to manuscripts that consider disparities in exposures and/or outcomes in population groups experiencing socioeconomic and/or environmental disadvantage and greater barriers to health, including racial/ethnic, gender and sexual minority, low socioeconomic, medically underserved, and immigrant groups.

Dr. Parisa Tehranifar
Dr. Jasmine A. McDonald
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Health disparities
Breast cancer
Race/ethnicity
Socioeconomic resources
Environmental disadvantage
Life-course

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1168 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influence of Childhood Adversity and Infection on Timing of Menarche in a Multiethnic Sample of Women

by Ayana K. April-Sanders, Parisa Tehranifar, Erica Lee Argov, Shakira F. Suglia, Carmen B. Rodriguez and Jasmine A. McDonald

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(8), 4080; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18084080 - 13 Apr 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2142

Abstract

Childhood adversities (CAs) and infections may affect the timing of reproductive development. We examined the associations of indicators of CAs and exposure to tonsillitis and infectious mononucleosis (mono) with age at menarche. A multiethnic cohort of 400 women (ages 40–64 years) reported exposure to parental maltreatment and maladjustment during childhood and any diagnosis of tonsillitis and/or mono; infections primarily acquired in early life and adolescence, respectively. We used linear and relative risk regression models to examine the associations of indicators of CAs individually and cumulatively, and history of tonsillitis/mono with an average age at menarche and early onset of menarche (<12 years of age). In multivariable models, histories of mental illness in the household (RR = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.01–2.06), and tonsillitis diagnosis (RR = 1.67, 95% CI: 1.20–2.33) were associated with early menarche (<12 years), and with an earlier average age at menarche by 7.1 months (95% CI: −1.15, −0.02) and 8.8 months (95% CI: −1.26, −0.20), respectively. Other adversities indicators, cumulative adversities, and mono were not statistically associated with menarcheal timing. These findings provided some support for the growing evidence that early life experiences may influence the reproductive development in girls. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breast Cancer Health Disparities and Prevention)

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14 pages, 3917 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Geographic Inequalities in Breast Cancer in Italy: Trend Analysis of Mortality and Risk Factors

by Paolo Giorgi Rossi, Olivera Djuric, Simone Navarra, Alessandra Rossi, Anteo Di Napoli, Luisa Frova and Alessio Petrelli

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(11), 4165; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17114165 - 11 Jun 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4058

Abstract

We calculated time trends of standardised mortality rates and risk factors for breast cancer (BC) from 1990 to 2016 for all women resident in Italy. The age-standardised mortality rate in Italy decreased from 4.2 in 1990 to 3.2 (×100,000) in 2016. While participation in organised screening programmes and age-standardised fertility rates decreased in Italy, screening invitation coverage and mammography uptake, the prevalence of women who breastfed and mean age at birth increased. Although southern regions had favourable prevalence of protective risk factors in the 1990s, fertility rates decreased in southern regions and increased in northern regions, which in 2016 had a higher rate (1.28 vs. 1.32 child per woman) and a smaller increase in women who breastfed (+4% vs. +30%). In 2000, mammography screening uptake was lower in southern than in northern and central regions (28% vs. 52%). However, the increase in mammography uptake was higher in southern (203%) than in northern and central Italy (80%), reducing the gap. Participation in mammographic screening programmes decreased in southern Italy (−10%) but increased in the North (6.6%). Geographic differences in mortality and risk factor prevalence is diminishing, with the South losing all of its historical advantage in breast cancer mortality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breast Cancer Health Disparities and Prevention)

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13 pages, 1388 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Breast Cancer in a Caribbean Population in Transition: Design and Implementation of the Atabey Population-Based Case-Control Study of Women in the San Juan Metropolitan Area in Puerto Rico

by Rosa V. Rosario-Rosado, Cruz M. Nazario, Johan Hernández-Santiago, Michelle Schelske-Santos, Imar Mansilla-Rivera, Farah A. Ramírez-Marrero, Gilberto Ramos-Valencia, Consuelo Climent, Jing Nie and Jo L. Freudenheim

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(4), 1333; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041333 - 19 Feb 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2573

Abstract

Global breast cancer incidence varies considerably, particularly in comparisons of low- and high-income countries; rates may vary even within regions. Breast cancer rates for Caribbean countries are generally lower than for North America and Europe. Rates in Puerto Rico are in the middle of the range between the highest and the lowest Caribbean countries. Populations in transition, with greater variability in risk factor exposures, provide an important opportunity to better understand breast cancer etiology and as potential sources of variation in rates. Understanding of exposures across the life span can potentially contribute to understanding regional differences in rates. We describe here the design and implementation of a population-based, case-control study in the San Juan Metropolitan Area (SJMA) of Puerto Rico, the Atabey Epidemiology of Breast Cancer Study. We describe steps taken to ensure that the study was culturally appropriate, leveraging the Atabey researchers’ understanding of the culture, local health system, and other required resources to effectively recruit participants. A standardized, in-person interview was developed, with attention to life course events customized to the study population. In order to understand variation in global breast cancer rates, studies customized to the populations outside of North America and Europe are required. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breast Cancer Health Disparities and Prevention)

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12 pages, 318 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessing Endogenous and Exogenous Hormone Exposures and Breast Development in a Migrant Study of Bangladeshi and British Girls

by Renata E. Howland, Nicole C. Deziel, Gillian R. Bentley, Mark Booth, Osul A. Choudhury, Jonathan N. Hofmann, Robert N. Hoover, Hormuzd A. Katki, Britton Trabert, Stephen D. Fox, Rebecca Troisi and Lauren C. Houghton

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(4), 1185; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041185 - 13 Feb 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2516

Abstract

Timing of breast development (or thelarche) and its endogenous and exogenous determinants may underlie global variation in breast cancer incidence. The study objectives were to characterize endogenous estrogen levels and bisphenol A (BPA) exposure using a migrant study of adolescent girls and test whether concentrations explained differences in thelarche by birthplace and growth environment. Estrogen metabolites (EM) and BPA-glucuronide (BPA-G) were quantified in urine spot samples using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) from a cross-sectional study of Bangladeshi, first- and second-generation Bangladeshi migrants to the UK, and white British girls aged 5–16 years (n = 348). Thelarche status at the time of interview was self-reported and defined equivalent to Tanner Stage ≥2. We compared geometric means (and 95% confidence interval (CIs)) of EM and BPA-G using linear regression and assessed whether EM and BPA-G explained any of the association between exposure to the UK and the age at thelarche using hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Average EM decreased with exposure to the UK, whereas BPA-G increased and was significantly higher among white British (0.007 ng/mL, 95% CI: 0.0024–0.0217) and second-generation British-Bangladeshi girls (0.009 ng/mL, 95% CI: 0.0040–0.0187) compared to Bangladeshi girls (0.002 ng/mL, 95% CI: 0.0018–0.0034). Two of four EM ratios (16-pathway/parent and parent/all pathways) were significantly associated with thelarche. The relationship between exposure to the UK and thelarche did not change appreciably after adding EM and BPA-G to the models. While BPA-G is often considered a ubiquitous exposure, our findings suggest it can vary based on birthplace and growth environment, with increasing levels for girls who were born in or moved to the UK. Our study did not provide statistically significant evidence that BPA-G or EM concentrations explained earlier thelarche among girls who were born or raised in the UK. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breast Cancer Health Disparities and Prevention)

12 pages, 938 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Predictors and Trend in Attendance for Breast Cancer Screening in Lithuania, 2006–2014

by Vilma Kriaucioniene and Janina Petkeviciene

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(22), 4535; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224535 - 16 Nov 2019

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2355

Abstract

In Lithuania, a Nationwide Breast Cancer (BC) Screening Program was launched in 2005, offering mammography for women aged 50 to 69 years, every other year. This study aimed to determine the trend in the attendance for mammography screening during 2006–2014 and to identify the factors that are predictive for participation in it. The study sample consisted of 1941 women aged 50–64 years, who participated in five cross-sectional biennial postal surveys of Lithuanian Health Behavior Monitoring, carried out in independent national random samples. The attendance for screening was identified if women reported having had a mammogram within the last two years. The proportion of women attending the screening was continuously increasing from 20.0% in 2006 up to 65.8% in 2014. The attendance for BC screening was associated with the participation in cervical cancer screening. A higher level of education, living in a city, frequent contact with a doctor, and healthy behaviors (fresh-vegetable consumption, physical activity, and absence of alcohol abuse) were associated with higher participation rates in BC screening. To increase BC screening uptake and to reduce inequalities in attendance, new strategies of organized BC screening program using systematic personal invitations are required in Lithuania. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breast Cancer Health Disparities and Prevention)

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