Hernandez Ashley M, Smith Sierra J, Vahora Moin S, Campbell Devan, Krevanko Callan F, Lewis Ryan C, Pierce Jennifer S
Benchmark Risk Group, Houston, Texas, USA.
Benchmark Risk Group, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
J Appl Toxicol. 2025 Aug;45(8):1394-1416. doi: 10.1002/jat.4744. Epub 2025 Jan 19.
Hair relaxers are predominantly used by Black women in the United States. It has been recently suggested that exposure to potential endocrine-disrupting compounds from the use of these products may be associated with the development of gynecological and breast cancers and anatomically relevant nonmalignancies. We conducted a systematic literature review using PubMed to identify original studies reporting measures of association between hair relaxer use and relevant adverse outcomes, focusing specifically on Black women in the United States. A total of 1382 studies were initially identified, and after consideration of the exclusion and inclusion criteria, the final set of studies consisted of seven cohort studies and one case-control study. The overall findings suggest that Black women in the United States do not experience an increased risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, or uterine cancer due to hair relaxers. One study found a statistically significant association between hair relaxer use and uterine leiomyomata, but there were no other studies identified to support these findings. None of the studies characterized the chemical constituents of hair relaxers. From an epidemiologic perspective, the weight of the evidence does not support the hypothesis that the use of hair relaxers is a risk factor for gynecological and breast cancers in US Black women.
直发剂在美国主要为黑人女性所使用。最近有人提出，使用这些产品接触潜在的内分泌干扰化合物可能与妇科癌症和乳腺癌以及解剖学相关的非恶性疾病的发生有关。我们使用PubMed进行了一项系统的文献综述，以确定报告直发剂使用与相关不良后果之间关联度量的原始研究，特别关注美国的黑人女性。最初共识别出1382项研究，在考虑排除和纳入标准后，最终的研究集包括7项队列研究和1项病例对照研究。总体研究结果表明，美国黑人女性不会因使用直发剂而增加患乳腺癌、卵巢癌或子宫癌的风险。一项研究发现直发剂使用与子宫平滑肌瘤之间存在统计学上的显著关联，但未发现其他研究支持这些结果。没有一项研究对直发剂的化学成分进行表征。从流行病学角度来看，现有证据并不支持使用直发剂是美国黑人女性患妇科癌症和乳腺癌的风险因素这一假设。
