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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Jul 15.
Published in final edited form as: Int J Cancer. 2019 Dec 3;147(2):383–391. doi: 10.1002/ijc.32738

Table 3:

Hair dye and straightener exposures and incident breast cancer in non-Hispanic white and all black women, Sister Study 2003–2009.

Non-Hispanic White Black
Person-Years Events Adjusted HR (95% CI) Person-Years Events Adjusted HR (95% CI)
2,402 208
Permanent hair dye
Personal use in the 12 months before enrollment
  No use 147,144 1,064 Ref 17,671 106 Ref
  Any use 183,378 1,338 1.07 (0.99,1.16) 12,491 102 1.45 (1.10,1.90)
   <4 times per year 74,915 524 1.06 (0.95,1.18) 8,218 62 1.36 (0.99,1.87)
   Every 5–8 weeks, 1+ per month 108,464 814 1.08 (0.98,1.18) 4,273 40 1.60 (1.11,2.30)
p for trend 0.1 0.006
Dye color
  None 147,144 1,064 Ref 17,671 106 Ref
  Light colors only 85,978 664 1.12 (1.01,1.23) 2,401 21 1.46 (0.91,2.34)
  Dark colors only 74,888 529 1.04 (0.94, 1.16) 8,883 74 1.51 (1.12,2.05)
  Light and dark colors 20,792 133 0.97 (0.81, 1.16) 686 3 --
Years of personal use
  None 115,391 822 Ref 13,395 94 Ref
  < 5 51,631 376 1.10 (0.97,1.24) 7,427 53 1.08 (0.77,1.52)
  5 or more 159,466 1,177 1.06 (0.97,1.16) 8,681 59 0.97 (0.70,1.34)
Applied to others
  No use 308,822 2,265 Ref 28,087 196 Ref
  Any use 21,700 137 0.94 (0.79,1.12) 2,075 12 0.88 (0.49,1.58)
   <4 times per year 18,543 118 0.96 (0.80,1.16) 1,709 10 0.91 (0.48,1.74)
   Every 5–8 weeks, 1+ per month 3,157 19 0.86 (0.55,1.35) 366 2 --
p for trend 0.5
Semi-permanent dye
Personal use in the 12 months before enrollment
  No use 277,145 2,054 Ref 19,528 131 Ref
  Any use 53,377 348 0.91 (0.81,1.02) 10,634 77 1.15 (0.86,1.53)
   <4 times per year 32,227 218 0.97 (0.85,1.12) 6,903 47 1.10 (0.78, 1.54)
   Every 5–8 weeks, 1+ per month 21,150 130 0.82 (0.69,0.98) 3,731 30 1.24 (0.83,1.84)
p for trend 0.04 0.3
Dye color
  None 277,145 2,054 Ref 19,528 130 Ref
  Light colors only 18,385 127 0.94 (0.78,1.12) 929 5 0.79 (0.32,1.93)
  Dark colors only 28,895 184 0.90 (0.77, 1.05) 8,590 62 1.16 (0.85,1.57)
  Light and dark colors 3,139 15 0.69 (0.41, 1.14) 363 3 --
Years of personal use
  None 240,094 1,803 Ref 15,415 110 Ref
  < 5 43,798 289 0.90 (0.80,1.02) 6,734 40 0.88 (0.61,1.27)
  5 or more 40,087 271 0.88 (0.78,1.00) 6,989 48 0.99 (0.70,1.39)
Applied to others
  No use 321,900 2,333 Ref 28,369 193 Ref
  Any use 8,621 69 1.23 (0.96,1.56) 1,794 15 1.35 (0.79,2.29)
   <4 times per year 7,534 57 1.17 (0.90, 1.52) 1,495 13 1.43 (0.81,2.53)
   Every 5–8 weeks, 1+ per month 1,088 12 1.61 (0.91, 2.84) 299 2 --
p for trend 0.06
Temporary dyes (rinses)
Personal use in the 12 months before enrollment
  No use 312,860 2,270 Ref 21,849 148 Ref
  Any use 17,662 132 1.02 (0.86,1.22) 8,314 60 1.12 (0.83,1.51)
Chemical straighteners
Personal use in the 12 months before enrollment
  No use 321,146 2,334 Ref 7,783 48 Ref
  Any use 9,376 68 1.16 (0.91,1.48) 22,380 160 1.20 (0.87,1.66)
   <4 times per year 5,459 37 1.09 (0.79, 1.51) 8,808 56 1.05 (0.71,1.55)
   Every 5–8 weeks, 1+ per month 3,917 31 1.26 (0.88, 1.80) 13,572 104 1.30 (0.92, 1.85)
p for trend 0.2 0.1
Applied to others
  No use 327,889 2,380 Ref 23,502 158 Ref
  Any use 2,634 22 1.38 (0.90,2.10) 6,660 50 1.22 (0.87,1.70)
   <4 times per year 2,039 19 1.55 (0.98,2.44) 4,900 38 1.27 (0.88,1.84)
   Every 5–8 weeks, 1+ per month 595 3 -- 1,760 12 1.08 (0.59,1.96)
p for trend 0.4
*

models adjusted for age, education, ever oral contraceptive use (OC), parity, age at first birth, smoking status, BMI, age at menarche

Tests for interaction on the multiplicative scale: Black *permanent dye P=0.0382; Black * relaxer/straightener: p = 0.7983.

For hazard ratio estimates associated with personal use in the 12 months before enrollment and application to others in the 12 months before enrollment, “No use” is the referent category for “Any use”. For frequency of use, “No use” is also the referent category for “<4 times per year” and “Every 5 weeks, 1+month” and the p for trend is provided.