In utero DDT exposure and breast density in early menopause by maternal history of breast cancer

Abstract

We examined the relationship between intrauterine dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) exposure (o,p’-DDT, p,p’-DDT, and p,p’-DDE) and mammographic breast density (MBD) in midlife, one of the strongest risk factors for breast cancer. We focused our analyses on o,p’-DDT exposure given our previous report of a positive association between intrauterine o,p’-DDT exposure and daughter’s breast cancer (BC) risk. Here we estimated associations of intrauterine serum DDTs with MBD in 224 daughters of women in the Child Health and Development Studies pregnancy cohort whose mothers did not develop BC (MBCa−) and 156 daughters whose mothers did develop BC (MBCa+). In MBCa+ daughters, highest relative to lowest quartile of o,p’-DDT exposure was associated with a 17-unit higher dense area (95% CI = 2.6–31.2; Ptrend = 0.01). We did not observe an association between o,p’-DDT and density measures in MBCa− daughters. MBD, an intermediate marker of BC risk, may be affected by intrauterine DDT exposures; MBCa status may modify the association.