Key clinical point: Among Black women, ambient concentrations of ozone (O 3), but not particulate matter <2.5 microns (PM 2.5) or nitrogen dioxide (NO 2), were associated with an increased risk for uterine fibroids.
Major finding: Ambient O 3 concentrations were significantly associated with an increased risk for uterine fibroids (hazard ratio for a 1-interquartile range increase, 1.19; 95% confidence interval, 1.07-1.32), particularly in women aged <35 years and parous women. However, concentrations of PM 2.5 and NO 2 had no significant associations with uterine fibroids risk.
Study details: The data come from a prospective cohort study of 21,998 premenopausal Black women in the US.
Disclosures: This study was funded by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. LA Wise reported relationships with AbbVie, Inc., Swiss Precision Diagnostics, Sandstone Diagnostics, FertilityFriend.com, and Kindara.com. M Jerrett reported receiving consultancy fees from the Health Effects Institute. The remaining authors declared no conflict of interests.
Source: Wesselink AK et al. Hum Reprod. 2021 May 13. doi: 10.1093/humrep/deab095 .