According to a study, hairdressers, beauticians and accountants may have a higher risk of developing ovarian cancer.
New research indicates that working 10 years or more in certain positions may put you at an increased risk of the disease.
Those working in the sales, retail, clothing and construction industries may also be vulnerable, scientists said.
And they suggest that exposure to certain chemicals, such as those in talcum powder and bleach, could be the reason.
Scientists say the increased risk may be due to exposure to certain chemical agents, such as those in talcum powder and bleach
Researchers at the University of Montreal analyzed data on women aged 18 to 79.
They compared 491 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer with 879 women who did not have the disease.
A range of information was collected from all participants, including their employment history.
Analysis, published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine, revealed that working as a hairdresser, barber, beautician or in related positions for 10 years or more was associated with a 3-fold higher risk of ovarian cancer.
Construction work was also associated with an almost tripling of risk, while a job in accounting for a decade or more was associated with a doubling of risk.
Similarly, long-term work in the garment industry, including embroidery, was associated with an 85 percent increased risk of developing the disease, while working in sales or retail was associated with higher risks of 45 percent and 59 percent, respectively.
Analysis, published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine, revealed that working as a hairdresser, barber, beautician or related positions for 10 years or more was associated with a 3-fold higher risk of ovarian cancer
The team said hairdressers, beauticians and related workers were the jobs most frequently exposed to 13 chemical agents, including ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, organic dyes and pigments and bleaches.
However, it’s not clear whether the link with ovarian cancer is due to a single agent, a combination or other workplace factors, they said.
The team added that white-collar workers and professional occupations, such as accountancy, may have a higher risk of ovarian cancer because workers are sedentary for most of the day.
Meanwhile, they found that women who work as professional nurses seemed to have a reduced risk of ovarian cancer.
?We saw associations suggesting that women who had worked in accounting, hairdressing, sales, sewing and related occupations, and in retail and construction may have been at greater risk,? they wrote.
‘Increased 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.
“Women working in hairdressing-related professions are exposed to hundreds of chemicals in high concentrations, including hair dyes, shampoos, conditioners, styling and cosmetic products.”
WHY Ovarian Cancer Is Called A ‘SILENT KILLER’
About 80 percent of ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed in an advanced stage of the disease.
At the time of diagnosis, 60 percent of ovarian cancers have already spread to other parts of the body, reducing the five-year survival rate from 90 percent at the earliest stage to 30 percent.
According to Dr. Ronny Drapkin, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania who has studied the disease for more than 20 years, the disease is diagnosed so late because of its location in the pelvis.
“The pelvis is like a bowl, so a tumor there can get quite big before it becomes really noticeable,” Dr Drapkin told the Daily Mail Online.
The first symptoms that appear with ovarian cancer are gastrointestinal because tumors can push upward.
When a patient complains of gastrointestinal discomfort, doctors are more likely to focus on dietary changes and other causes than on an ovarian cancer screening.
Dr. Drapkin said it’s usually only after a patient has endured persistent gastrointestinal symptoms that they get a screening that reveals the cancer.
“Ovarian cancer is often said to be a silent killer because it has no early symptoms when in fact it does have symptoms, but they’re just very common and could be caused by other things,” he said.
?One of the things I say to women is that nobody knows your body better than you do. If you feel that something is not right, then something is probably not right.’
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