Do you know that if you work as a hairdresser, barber, beautician, or accountant for 10 years or more, your risk of acquiring ovarian cancer may be higher? Working as a fashion designer, sales, retail, construction site or textiles worker could also heighten the risk, say scientists from the University of Montreal who examined data on women aged 18 to 79.
They contrasted 879 women without the disease with 491 women who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. All of the participants’ personal information, including their work history, was gathered.
A threefold increased risk of ovarian cancer was shown to be connected with ten or more years of experience working as a hairdresser, barber, beautician, or in occupations that were similar, according to research published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine.
A near tripling of risk was also linked to working in the construction industry, while a double increase in risk was linked to employment in accountancy for at least ten years.
Similarly, long-term employment in the apparel industry, including needlework, was linked to an 85 percent increased risk of acquiring the condition, compared to greater risks of developing the condition when working in sales or retail, which were linked to, respectively, 45 percent and 59 percent higher risks.
According to the research team, vocations in which people are exposed to 13 chemical agents, such as ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, organic dyes and pigments, and bleaches, more typically include hairdressing, cosmetics, and related fields.
However, they added, it is unclear whether the connection to ovarian cancer is caused by a single chemical, a mixture, or other occupational conditions.
The team also suggested that because employees in white-collar and professional industries spend the majority of the day sitting down, such as accountancy, may have a higher chance of developing ovarian cancer. In the meantime, they learned that professional nurses appeared to have a lower incidence of ovarian cancer.
They wrote; “We observed associations suggesting that women who had worked in accountancy, hairdressing, sales, sewing and related occupations and the retail trade and construction industries may have increased risks.
“Elevated risks were observed for high cumulative exposure to 18 agents for which a large proportion of occupations exposed to 12 of these agents were hairdressing related.