Background: Phthalates and phenols from the environment have been inconsistently associated with breast cancer risk or mortality. Studies on the potential modifying role of leukocyte telomere length (LTL), a biomarker of biological aging, on these associations are lacking.
Methods: We included 1,268 women from the Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project with available data on phthalate and phenol analytes and LTL measurements. Twenty-two phthalate and phenol analytes were measured in spot urines and LTL was measured in blood. The modifying effect of LTL on the associations of individual analyte with breast cancer risk as well as mortalities was estimated using interaction terms between LTL and urinary concentrations of analyte in logistic regression and Cox regression models, respectively. ORs, HRs, and corresponding 95% confidence intervals for a one-unit (ln μg/g creatinine) increase of urinary phthalate/phenol level were estimated at 10th, 50th, and 90th percentiles of LTL.
Results: LTL significantly (P < 0.05) modified associations between 11 of 22 of urinary phthalate/phenols analytes and breast cancer risk. An inverse association between phthalate/phenols analytes and breast cancer risk at shorter LTL and a positive association at longer LTL was generally suggested. No modifying effect was found for LTL on the association between these phthalate/phenols analytes and breast cancer mortalities.
Conclusions: LTL may modify the associations between phthalate and phenol exposures and breast cancer risk.
Impact: This study is the first study that determined the modifying effect of biological aging in the association between environmental chemical exposure and breast cancer risk.
©2021 American Association for Cancer Research.