Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Response to ‘Comment on ‘Domestic light at night and breast cancer risk: a prospective analysis of 105 000 UK women in the Generations Study”

British Journal of Cancer volume 120, page 278 (2019)Cite this article

Dear Editor,

We thank Drs Kyba and Spitschan for their thoughtful comments.1 We agree that the responses we received2 from our study participants on extent of light at night in bedrooms are a complex reflection of actual visual ability, subjective judgement of visual ability, and recall and generalisation of this. It may indeed be possible to develop more-valid questions, especially, as Drs Kyba and Spitschan say, if these can be evaluated against measured light in the bedroom. However, it will not be simple since, for instance, actual light at night will vary by season and according to the weather.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Kyba, C. C. M. & Spitschan, M. Comment on ‘Domestic light at night and breast cancer risk: a prospective analysis of 105 000 UK women in the Generations Study. Br. J. Cancer 118, 1536 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Johns, L. E. et al. Domestic light at night and breast cancer risk: a prospective analysis of 105 000 UK women in the Generations Study. Br. J. Cancer 118, 600–606 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Emily McFadden

    Present address: Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK

  2. Alan Ashworth

    Present address: UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, SM2 5NG, UK

    Louise E. Johns, Michael E. Jones, Minouk J. Schoemaker, Emily McFadden & Anthony J Swerdlow

  2. Division of Breast Cancer Research, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, SW3 6JB, UK

    Alan Ashworth & Anthony J Swerdlow

  3. Breast Cancer Now Research Centre, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, SW3 6JB, UK

    Alan Ashworth

  4. Division of Molecular Pathology, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, SW7 3RP, UK

    Alan Ashworth

Authors
  1. Louise E. Johns
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael E. Jones
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Minouk J. Schoemaker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Emily McFadden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Alan Ashworth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Anthony J Swerdlow
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Louise E. Johns.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Note

This work is published under the standard license to publish agreement. After 12 months the work will become freely available and the license terms will switch to a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

Additional information

Note: This work is published under the standard license to publish agreement. After 12 months the work will become freely available and the license terms will switch to a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Johns, L.E., Jones, M.E., Schoemaker, M.J. et al. Response to ‘Comment on ‘Domestic light at night and breast cancer risk: a prospective analysis of 105 000 UK women in the Generations Study”. Br J Cancer 120, 278 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-018-0344-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-018-0344-y

Search

Advanced search

Quick links