Ovarian cancer risk may be higher in seven popular professions, scientists warn

Working as a beautician, hairdresser or in construction may increase your risk of developing ovarian cancer.

This is the warning of a study out of Canada, which looked for associations between the risk of ovarian cancer and profession in 1,388 women.

The team also found that working long-term in accounting, sales, retail and for the clothing industry may be also associated with a higher risk of the disease.

While the study found associations — not causal links — high exposure to particular agents such as ammonia, bleach, talcum powder, petrol and propellant gases may play a role.

Further research will be needed, the team said, but the findings may help to identify modifiable risk factors for ovarian cancer, few of which are known at present.

The study into the relationship between ovarian cancer, profession and occupational exposures was undertaken by environmental epidemiologist Dr Anita Koushik of the Université de Montréal in Quebec and her colleagues.

The team analysed 491 subjects from the Prevention of Ovarian Cancer in Quebec (PROVAQ) study, all of whom were adults aged 18–79 that had been recruited from Montreal hospitals between 2010–2016 after being diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer.

The team compared these women to 897 peers without ovarian cancer who were matched up based on age and electoral roll district.

For both groups, the researchers studied data on socioeconomic background, health history, lifestyle factors and lifetime employment history — including job titles, dates, working hours and details of the main tasks performed.

They then used the “Canadian job-exposure matrix” to calculate each subject’s likely exposure to specific agents in the workplace — and analysed the relationship between exposure to 29 of the most common agents and the risk of ovarian cancer.

The team found that the women who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer tended to have lower levels of educational attainment, shorter oral contraceptive use, and either no children or fewer than the women in the comparison group.

All of these attributes, the researchers explained, are potential risk factors for ovarian cancer.

Furthermore, after accounting for potential confounding factors, the team’s analysis revealed that several jobs appear to be linked to a heightened risk of the disease.

Specifically, working for a decade or more as either a barber, hairdresser or beautician was associated with a threefold increase in ovarian cancer risk — as was construction — while a similar time spent in accountancy was linked to a doubling in the risk.

The researchers’ analysis also indicated that long-term work in the clothing industry — including embroidery — was associated with an 85 percent increase in the risk of ovarian cancer, while retail and sales were linked to 59 and 45 percent increases, respectively.

The risk of ovarian cancer was also found to be increased by 40 percent among those women with eight or more years of exposure (compared to none) to 18 specific agents.

These included ammonia; cellulose; formaldehyde; hair dust; hydrogen peroxide; organic dyes and pigments; polyester fibres; propellant gases; synthetic fibres; talcum powder; and naturally occurring chemicals in petrol and bleaches.

Hairdressers, beauticians and those in related fields were the most frequently exposed to 13 of the agents of concern — including ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, and organic dyes and pigments — and the second most commonly exposed to talcum powder.

The team cautioned, however, that it was not clear if the associations with increased ovarian cancer risk were driven by a single agent, a combination of agents, or other workplace factors — and that the number of women employed to certain agents was very small.

Accordingly, they said, more studies will be needed to try to replicate the findings and drill down into what they really mean.

Nevertheless, they concluded, the results “suggest that employment in certain occupations and specific occupational exposures may be associated with increased risks of ovarian cancer”.

Drs Melissa Friesen and Laura Beane Freeman of the US National Cancer Institute — who were not involved in the present research — wrote an accompanying commentary.

The study, they said: “reminds us that while the lack of representation of women in occupational cancer studies — and indeed, even potential strategies to address this issue — have been long recognised, there is still a need for improvement in studying women’s occupational risks.

“By excluding women, we miss the opportunity to identify risk factors for female-specific cancers, to evaluate whether sex-specific differences in risk occur, and to study exposures occurring in occupations held primarily by women.”

Statistician Professor Kevin McConway of the Open University — who was also not involved in the present study — added: “The researchers clearly state that their study was ‘exploratory’ and that it is ‘aimed at generating new hypotheses’.

“So, it is certainly not claiming that they have definitely found occupational groups, or exposures to chemicals and other agents, that are associated with ovarian cancer

“A study like this, that points at associations that it might be important to research further, is a good way of pointing at future research questions that can be investigated in more depth, using more detailed methods.”

He concluded: “One simply cannot research everything, and this study can be seen as a kind of filter to try to ensure that future research is as productive as possible.”

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.