New research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health reveals that outdoor air pollution can increase the risk of non-lung cancer in older adults. Even low levels of air pollution exposure can elevate the chances of developing prostate, colorectal, breast, and endometrial cancers.
This study, which analyzed data from millions of Medicare beneficiaries, found that long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollutants (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over 10 years can raise the risk of cancer.
In recent months, PM2.5 has been a topic of concern due to its association with the Canadian wildfire smoke, which has negatively impacted air quality across the United States.
While previous research has established air pollution as a risk factor for lung cancer and identified a potential link to breast cancer, few studies have examined its effects on prostate, colorectal, and endometrial cancer.
“Our findings demonstrate the biological plausibility of air pollution as a significant risk factor for specific cancers, bringing us closer to understanding the impact of air pollution on human health,” said Yaguang Wei, a research fellow in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
“To ensure that everyone has access to clean air, we must fully comprehend the effects of air pollution and work towards reducing it,” Wei added.
The researchers analyzed data from Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and older, collected between 2000 and 2016. All participants were cancer-free during the initial 10 years of the study.
Separate cohorts were created for each type of cancer – breast, colorectal, endometrial, and prostate – consisting of between 2.2 million and 6.5 million subjects.
The scientists then developed a predictive map of PM2.5 and NO2 concentrations across the country. This information was linked to ZIP codes of the beneficiaries to estimate individual exposures over a 10-year period.
The research revealed that chronic exposure to PM2.5 and NO2 increased the risk of developing colorectal and prostate cancers.
For breast cancer, NO2 exposure was associated with a lower risk, while the association with PM2.5 was inconclusive. In regions where air pollution levels were significantly below national standards and the composition of PM2.5 remained stable, the impact on breast cancer risk was more pronounced.
Furthermore, stronger connections between pollutant exposures and endometrial cancer risk were identified at lower pollution levels.
The researchers noted that even communities with seemingly clean air were not immune to cancer risk. They discovered significant associations between exposure to the two pollutants and the risks of all four cancers, even at pollution levels below the newly updated World Health Organization guidelines.
“The key message here is that current U.S. air pollution standards are insufficient in protecting public health,” said senior author Joel Schwartz, a professor of environmental epidemiology. “While the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed stricter standards for PM2.5, their proposal does not go far enough in regulating this pollutant.
“The existing NO2 standards are also inadequate,” Schwartz added. “Unless these standards become much more stringent, air pollution will continue to contribute to thousands of unnecessary cases of multiple cancers each year.”
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