Uterine cancer: Chemical hair straighteners double the risk

Uterine cancer occurs in the uterus — a female organ involved in reproduction. The uterus is also called the uterus.

The most common type of uterine cancer, known as endometrial cancer, occurs in the inner lining of the uterus called the endometrium endometrium. Uterine cancer can also develop in the so-called muscular wall of the uterus myometrium.

Risk factors for uterine cancer include:

Symptoms of uterine cancer include:

Corresponding dr Alexandra WhiteHead of the Environment and Cancer Epidemiology group of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) – part of the NIH – and lead author of this study, hair products such as dyes and chemical straighteners contain a number of different chemicals that may act as carcinogens and carcinogens, respectively endocrine disruptorsand may therefore be important for cancer risk.

“Especially hair straighteners contain chemicals such as phthalates, parabenscyclosiloxanes, [and] metals and can release formaldehyde when heated,” she said Medical news today.

“Previous research has found that hair dye and chemical straighteners are linked to other hormone-sensitive cancers, such as: Breast and ovarian cancer, but no previous study has examined how they are related to the risk of uterine cancer,” said Dr. White.

For this study, Dr. White and her team collected data from over 33,000 women in the United States aged 35-74 who participated in the study sister study. The NIEHS is conducting the sister study to identify risk factors for breast cancer and other health problems.

The researchers followed the women participating in the study for about 11 years. During that time, 378 cases of uterine cancer were diagnosed.

In the analysis, the researchers found that women who reported using hair straightening products more than four times in a year were more than twice as likely to develop cervical cancer than those who did not use the products.

“We estimated that 1.64% of women who never used hair straighteners would develop cervical cancer by age 70; but for frequent users, that risk increases to 4.05%,” says Dr. White.

Researchers reported not finding an increased risk of uterine cancer in women who use other hair care products, such as hair dye, highlighting products, bleaches, or perm products.

According to researchers, 60% of the participants who used hair straightening products self-identified as black women. Although scientists found no association between chemical hair straightener use, womb cancer diagnosis and race, the research team reported that black women may be at increased risk due to higher chemical hair straightener use.

“Because black women use hair straightening or relaxation products more often and tend to start using them earlier than other races and ethnicities, these results may be even more relevant to them,” says Dr. Che-Jung Chang, a research associate at the NIEHS Epidemiology Branch and a member of the study’s research team.

A to learn from June 2022 found that cases of cervical cancer were increasing among non-Hispanic black women. The same study also found that black women had more than double the mortality rate compared to other racial and ethnic groups.

When asked about the next steps for this research, Dr. White that they are now evaluating other blends of personal care product use in relation to cancer risk and considering how hair straightener use throughout life may affect cancer risk.

“To our knowledge, this is the first epidemiological study to investigate the association between hair straightening use and cervical cancer,” adds Dr. White added.

“Further research is needed to confirm these findings in different populations, to determine whether hair products contribute to health disparities in uterine cancer, and to identify the specific chemicals that may increase cancer risk in women,” she warns.