Research News

Passive Smoking and Risk of Breast Cancer in the California Teachers Study                           Peggy Reynolds, Ph.D. Senior Research Scientist, Northern California Cancer Center

Findings from this NCCC study revealed that women who never smoked cigarettes and who were exposed to secondhand cigarette smoke over a lifetime—especially during adulthood—had a significantly increased risk of breast cancer later in life. The study, led by Peggy Reynolds, Ph.D., used data from the ongoing California Teachers Study, which showed that women whose exposure occurred at or after age 20 had the greatest increased risk of breast cancer. According to Dr. Reynolds, this study was one of the largest studies conducted of its kind and had some of the most detailed measures of passive smoking of any study to date.

The study’s findings were recently published in the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) journal, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. Find out more about this study by reading this press release.