Hair relaxer use and risk of uterine cancer in the Black Women's Health Study.

Background: Chemical hair relaxers, use of which is highly prevalent among Black women in the US, have been inconsistently linked to risk of estrogen-dependent cancers, such as breast cancer, and other reproductive health conditions. Whether hair relaxer use increases risk of uterine cancer is unknown.

Methods: In the Black Women's Health Study, 44,798 women with an intact uterus who self-identified as Black were followed from 1997, when chemical hair relaxer use was queried, until 2019.

Perceived racism associated with declines in self-rated oral health among U.S. Black women.

Purpose: Racial disparities in oral health are well-documented. Stress has been associated with both perceived racism and oral health, yet little research has directly investigated the association between perceived racism and oral health.

Methods: We used data from the Black Women's Health Study, a longitudinal cohort study that includes a geographically diverse sample of Black women across the United States.

Neighborhood disadvantage and lung cancer risk in a national cohort of never smoking Black women.

Background: Compared to women of other races who have never smoked, Black women have a higher risk of lung cancer. Whether neighborhood disadvantage, which Black women experience at higher rates than other women, is linked to never-smoking lung cancer risk remains unclear. This study investigates the association of neighborhood disadvantage and lung cancer risk in Black never-smoking women.

Hair product use and breast cancer incidence in the Black Women's Health Study.

Hair relaxers and leave-in conditioners and oils, commonly used by Black/African American women, may contain estrogens or estrogen-disrupting compounds. Thus, their use may contribute to breast cancer risk. Results of the few previous studies on this topic are inconsistent.

A prospective cohort study of ambient air pollution exposure and risk of uterine leiomyomata.

Study Question: To what extent are ambient concentrations of particulate matter <2.5 microns (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3) associated with risk of self-reported physician-diagnosed uterine leiomyomata (UL)?

Summary Answer: In this large prospective cohort study of Black women, ambient concentrations of O3, but not PM2.

Air pollution and breast cancer risk in the Black Women's Health Study.

Background: Air pollution contains numerous carcinogens and endocrine disruptors which may be relevant for breast cancer. Previous research has predominantly been conducted in White women; however, Black women may have higher air pollution exposure due to geographic and residential factors.

Objective: We evaluated the association between air pollution and breast cancer risk in a large prospective population of Black women.

Aspirin use and risk of breast cancer in African American women.

Background: Use of aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) has been hypothesized to be associated with reduced risk of breast cancer; however, results of epidemiological studies have been mixed. Few studies have investigated these associations among African American women.

Methods: To assess the relation of aspirin use to risk of breast cancer in African American women, we conducted a prospective analysis within the Black Women's Health Study, an ongoing nationwide cohort study of 59,000 African American women.

Experiences of racism and subjective cognitive function in African American women.

Introduction: We hypothesized that frequent experiences of racism among African American women would adversely affect subjective cognitive function (SCF), based on the established association of psychological stress with memory decline.

Methods: We used multinomial logistic regression to quantify the association between experiences of racism and SCF, based on six questions, among 17,320 participants in the prospective Black Women's Health Study.

Results: The multivariable odds ratio (OR, 95% confidence interval [CI]) for poor compared to good SCF among women at the highest versus the lowest level of daily racism (eg, poorer service in stores) was 2.

Association of type 2 diabetes with central-scalp hair loss in a large cohort study of African American women.

Background: Hair loss on the central scalp commonly occurs among African American (AA) women and can pose substantial psychosocial burdens. The causes of hair loss remain obscure, although type 2 diabetes has been hypothesized to increase the risk of hair loss. The objective of the present study was to prospectively estimate the association between type 2 diabetes and severe central hair loss in AA women.

Ambient ozone and incident diabetes: A prospective analysis in a large cohort of African American women.

Background: Ozone is a ubiquitous air pollutant with increasing concentrations in many populous regions. Toxicological studies show that ozone can cause oxidative stress and increase insulin resistance. These pathways may contribute to metabolic changes and diabetes formation.

Long-Term Exposure to NO2 and Ozone and Hypertension Incidence in the Black Women's Health Study.

Background: Evidence shows that exposure to air pollutants can increase blood pressure in the short and long term. Some studies show higher levels of hypertension prevalence in areas of high pollution. Few data exist on the association of air pollution with hypertension incidence.

Comparing the Health Effects of Ambient Particulate Matter Estimated Using Ground-Based versus Remote Sensing Exposure Estimates.

Background: Remote sensing (RS) is increasingly used for exposure assessment in epidemiological and burden of disease studies, including those investigating whether chronic exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM) is associated with mortality.

Objectives: We compared relative risk estimates of mortality from diseases of the circulatory system for PM modeled from RS with that for PM modeled using ground-level information.

Methods: We geocoded the baseline residence of 668,629 American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS-II) cohort participants followed from 1982 to 2004 and assigned PM levels to all participants using seven different exposure models.

Long term exposure to NO2 and diabetes incidence in the Black Women's Health Study.

While laboratory studies show that air pollutants can potentiate insulin resistance, the epidemiologic evidence regarding the association of air pollution with diabetes incidence is conflicting. The purpose of the present study was to assess the association of the traffic-related nitrogen dioxide (NO2) with the incidence of diabetes in a longitudinal cohort study of African American women. We used Cox proportional hazards models to calculate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for diabetes associated with exposure to NO2 among 43,003 participants in the Black Women's Health Study (BWHS).

Ambient Air Pollution and 16-Year Weight Change in African-American Women.

Introduction: Substantial research has been dedicated to understanding the reasons for the dramatic rise in obesity rates in the U.S. in the last 2 decades.

Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status in Relation to Serum Biomarkers in the Black Women's Health Study.

Lower neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with higher cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Black women have a higher CVD risk and are more likely to live in poor neighborhoods than white women. We examined the association of neighborhood SES with several CVD biomarkers using data from the Black Women's Health Study (BWHS), a follow-up study of US black women reporting high levels of education and income.

Neighborhood and Individual Socioeconomic Status and Asthma Incidence in African American Women.

Objective: Individual socioeconomic status (SES) has been associated with asthma incidence but whether neighborhood SES has an influence is unknown. We assessed the contributions of neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), neighborhood housing density, neighborhood racial composition, and individual SES to the development of adult-onset asthma in Black women, accounting for other known or suspected risk factors.

Design And Participants: Prospective cohort study conducted among 47,779 African American women followed with biennial health questionnaires from 1995 to 2011.

Temporal aspects of air pollutant measures in epidemiologic analysis: a simulation study.

Numerous observational studies have assessed the association between ambient air pollution and chronic disease incidence, but there is no uniform approach to create an exposure metric that captures the variability in air pollution through time and determines the most relevant exposure window. The purpose of the present study was to assess ways of modeling exposure to air pollution in relation to incident hypertension. We simulated data on incident hypertension to assess the performance of six air pollution exposure metrics, using characteristics from the Black Women's Health Study.

PM2.5 and Diabetes and Hypertension Incidence in the Black Women's Health Study.

Background: Clinical studies have shown that exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) can increase insulin resistance and blood pressure. The epidemiologic evidence for an association of PM2.

Obesity and weight gain in relation to incidence of sarcoidosis in US black women: data from the Black Women's Health Study.

Background: Sarcoidosis, a systemic disorder characterized by chronic granulomatous inflammation, occurs more frequently among US black women, as do overweight and obesity. Little is known about the relation of overweight and obesity, which induce chronic inflammation, to incidence of sarcoidosis.

Methods: We assessed the relation of obesity and weight gain to the incidence of sarcoidosis in the Black Women's Health Study, a follow-up study of 59,000 US black women aged 21 to 69 years at baseline in 1995.

Active and passive smoking and the incidence of asthma in the Black Women's Health Study.

Rationale: Evidence linking active or passive smoking to the incidence of adult-onset asthma is inconsistent with both positive and inverse associations being reported. Most previous studies of active smoking have not accounted for passive smoke exposure, which may have introduced bias.

Objectives: To assess the separate associations of active and passive smoking to the incidence of adult-onset asthma in the U.

Assessment of traffic-related noise in three cities in the United States.

Background: Traffic-related noise is a growing public health concern in developing and developed countries due to increasing vehicle traffic. Epidemiological studies have reported associations between noise exposure and high blood pressure, increased risk of hypertension and heart disease, and stress induced by sleep disturbance and annoyance. These findings motivate the need for regular noise assessments within urban areas.

Racism, segregation, and risk of obesity in the Black Women's Health Study.

We assessed the relation of experiences of racism to the incidence of obesity and the modifying impact of residential racial segregation in the Black Women's Health Study, a follow-up study of US black women. Racism scores were created from 8 questions asked in 1997 and 2009 about the frequency of "everyday" racism (e.g.

Depressive symptoms and the incidence of adult-onset asthma in African American women.

Background: Some evidence suggests that depression may increase the risk of adult-onset asthma. No data are available for African American women, in whom the prevalence of depression and asthma is high.

Objective: To conduct prospective analyses of the relation of depressive symptoms to asthma incidence in the Black Women's Health Study, a prospective cohort of US black women followed since 1995 with mailed biennial questionnaires.

Restaurant foods, sugar-sweetened soft drinks, and obesity risk among young African American women.

Background: The prevalence of obesity is disproportionately high in African American women, and consumption of fast foods and sugar-sweetened soft drinks is also especially high among African Americans.

Objective: We investigated the relation of intakes of sugar-sweetened soft drinks and specific types of restaurant foods to obesity in the Black Women's Health Study.

Design: In this prospective cohort study, 19,479 non-obese women aged 21-39 years at baseline were followed for 14 years (1995-2009).