Non-Lung Cancer Risk Increases Due To Autdoor air Pollution: Study

(CTN News) – The risk of non-lung cancer in older adults may increase due to chronic exposure to fine particulate air pollutants (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), according to the latest study.

An investigation conducted by Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and published in the journal Environmental Epidemiology showed that exposure to PM2.5 and NO2 over a 10-year period increased the risk of colorectal cancer and prostate lung cancer among millions of Medicare beneficiaries.

There is also evidence that even a low level of exposure to air pollution may make people vulnerable to developing these cancers, as well as breast and endometrial lung cancer, as a result of low levels of air pollution exposure.

As a result of our research, we are now one step closer to understanding how air pollution impacts human health, as it is biologically plausible that air pollution plays a significant role in the development of specific lung cancer. Yaguang Wei, a research fellow in the Department of Environmental Health, said.

There has been a growing body of evidence linking air pollution to lung cancer risk, as well as linking it to breast cancer risk, but only a few studies have investigated the effects of air pollution on prostate, colorectal, and endometrial cancers in people.

During the study, researchers analysed data collected from national Medicare beneficiaries over the age of 65. In at least the first 10 years of the study period, all the subjects were cancer-free.

According to research conducted by the researchers, based on data collected from a wide range of air pollution data sources, a predictive map of PM2.5 and NO2 concentrations has been developed.

A nationwide analysis found that chronic exposures to PM2.5 and NO2 were associated with a higher risk of developing colorectal and prostate Lung Cancer, but not with the risk of developing endometrial cancers.

The exposure to NO2 was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, whereas the exposure to PM2.5 was not associated with an increased risk. According to the researchers, the mixed associations may result from variations in the chemical composition of PM2.5, which is a complex mixture of solid and liquid particles.

Despite the apparent cleanliness of the air in the communities, the researchers found that Lung Cancerrates were still high in these communities.

Despite pollution levels below the recently updated guidelines of the World Health Organization, substantial associations were found between exposure to these two pollutants and risks of all four cancers.

The US Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed stricter standards for PM2.5, but these standards do not go far enough to regulate this pollutant.

There is also a great deal of inadequacy in the current NO2 standards. According to Joel Schwartz, senior study author and professor of environmental epidemiology, “unless all of these standards are significantly strengthened, air pollution will continue to result in thousands of unnecessary cases of multiple cancers every year.”.

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