Objective To investigate the impact of environmental pollution on female breast nodular diseases in rural areas.

Methods High-frequency ultrasound was used to perform breast ultrasound examination for the women who participated in the screening of "Two Cancers" (breast cancer and cervical cancer) in the rural areas of Jinan, Shandong province, China from July to September, 2019. The women with breast nodular diseases were screened out, and an on-the-spot investigation was performed to observe their living environment and evaluate the exposure to environmental pollution in the living place. A statistical analysis was performed for ultrasound data and environmental pollution data to explore the association between environmental pollution and breast nodular diseases.

Results Among the 4 082 rural women in this study, 390 were diagnosed with breast nodular diseases (BIRADS Ⅲ-Ⅴ) by breast ultrasound, with a detection rate of 9.6%. There were significant differences in the detection rate of breast nodular diseases between the groups with different ages, distances between the places of residence and the city, presence or absence of large polluting enterprises such as coal mines and power plants, presence or absence of small polluting enterprises, presence or absence of major traffic roads around the places of residence, or presence or absence of markets (χ² were 92.27, 11.60, 23.92, 8.60, 19.88, and 6.34, respectively, P < 0.05). The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that increased age (OR=4.68, 95%CI: 2.97-7.38), presence of heavy polluting enterprises such as coal mines and power plants near the place of residence (OR=1.36, 95%CI: 1.02-1.80), and presence of major traffic roads near the places of residence (OR=1.35, 95%CI: 1.04-1.75) were risk factors for breast nodular diseases.

Conclusion There is a high detection rate of breast nodular diseases in women from the rural areas of Jinan, and environmental pollution is a risk factor for breast nodular diseases.