Association between Air Pollutants and Cancer Incidence Rates in Japan: An Ecological Study
We investigated the associations between the incidence rates of five typical cancer types and five air pollutants in 317 Japanese municipalities in 2017. We obtained the concentrations of the five air pollutants, i.e., sulfur dioxide (SO<sub>2</sub>), nitric oxide (NO), nitric dioxide (N...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Medical Sciences Forum |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-9992/4/1/15 |
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| author | Kohei Hasegawa Teruomi Tsukahara Tetsuo Nomiyama |
| author_facet | Kohei Hasegawa Teruomi Tsukahara Tetsuo Nomiyama |
| author_sort | Kohei Hasegawa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We investigated the associations between the incidence rates of five typical cancer types and five air pollutants in 317 Japanese municipalities in 2017. We obtained the concentrations of the five air pollutants, i.e., sulfur dioxide (SO<sub>2</sub>), nitric oxide (NO), nitric dioxide (NO<sub>2</sub>), photochemical oxidants (O<sub>x</sub>), and fine particulate matter (PM<sub>2.5</sub>), from Japan’s National Institute for Environmental Studies and calculated the yearly mean of each. We identified patients of both sexes with the five most common cancers in Japan’s National Cancer Registry, which covers all cancer patients in the country. For males, we included prostate, stomach, colorectal, lung, and liver cancers. For females, we included breast, colorectal, lung, stomach, and uterine cancers. We calculated the Spearman’s correlation coefficients between 25 pairs of air-pollutant concentrations and the age-standardized incidence rate of the cancer types for each sex. We used Poisson regression models to examine the dose–response relationships. We identified 11 significantly positive correlation coefficients at the Bonferroni-corrected alpha level for the five pollutants for the five cancers in both sexes. We observed significantly positive dose–response relationships between NO<sub>2</sub> and colorectal cancer and PM<sub>2.5</sub> and lung cancer for both sexes. We also observed significant dose–response relationships between SO<sub>2</sub> and PM<sub>2.5</sub> and liver cancer for males and between NO and lung cancer and NO<sub>2</sub> and breast cancer for females. We did not observe significant associations with prostate, stomach, or uterine cancer. Our findings support the concept that exposure to air pollutants increases cancer incidence rates. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:05:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-11dcb758b2374c6c942563867cfacef7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-9992 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:05:58Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Medical Sciences Forum |
| spelling | doaj.art-11dcb758b2374c6c942563867cfacef72023-11-18T11:52:07ZengMDPI AGMedical Sciences Forum2673-99922021-01-01411510.3390/ECERPH-3-09054Association between Air Pollutants and Cancer Incidence Rates in Japan: An Ecological StudyKohei Hasegawa0Teruomi Tsukahara1Tetsuo Nomiyama2Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, Shinshu University, 3-1-1 Asahi, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-8621, JapanDepartment of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, Shinshu University, 3-1-1 Asahi, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-8621, JapanDepartment of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, Shinshu University, 3-1-1 Asahi, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-8621, JapanWe investigated the associations between the incidence rates of five typical cancer types and five air pollutants in 317 Japanese municipalities in 2017. We obtained the concentrations of the five air pollutants, i.e., sulfur dioxide (SO<sub>2</sub>), nitric oxide (NO), nitric dioxide (NO<sub>2</sub>), photochemical oxidants (O<sub>x</sub>), and fine particulate matter (PM<sub>2.5</sub>), from Japan’s National Institute for Environmental Studies and calculated the yearly mean of each. We identified patients of both sexes with the five most common cancers in Japan’s National Cancer Registry, which covers all cancer patients in the country. For males, we included prostate, stomach, colorectal, lung, and liver cancers. For females, we included breast, colorectal, lung, stomach, and uterine cancers. We calculated the Spearman’s correlation coefficients between 25 pairs of air-pollutant concentrations and the age-standardized incidence rate of the cancer types for each sex. We used Poisson regression models to examine the dose–response relationships. We identified 11 significantly positive correlation coefficients at the Bonferroni-corrected alpha level for the five pollutants for the five cancers in both sexes. We observed significantly positive dose–response relationships between NO<sub>2</sub> and colorectal cancer and PM<sub>2.5</sub> and lung cancer for both sexes. We also observed significant dose–response relationships between SO<sub>2</sub> and PM<sub>2.5</sub> and liver cancer for males and between NO and lung cancer and NO<sub>2</sub> and breast cancer for females. We did not observe significant associations with prostate, stomach, or uterine cancer. Our findings support the concept that exposure to air pollutants increases cancer incidence rates.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-9992/4/1/15air pollutionenvironmental pollutioncancerenvironmental epidemiology |
| spellingShingle | Kohei Hasegawa Teruomi Tsukahara Tetsuo Nomiyama Association between Air Pollutants and Cancer Incidence Rates in Japan: An Ecological Study Medical Sciences Forum air pollution environmental pollution cancer environmental epidemiology |
| title | Association between Air Pollutants and Cancer Incidence Rates in Japan: An Ecological Study |
| title_full | Association between Air Pollutants and Cancer Incidence Rates in Japan: An Ecological Study |
| title_fullStr | Association between Air Pollutants and Cancer Incidence Rates in Japan: An Ecological Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Association between Air Pollutants and Cancer Incidence Rates in Japan: An Ecological Study |
| title_short | Association between Air Pollutants and Cancer Incidence Rates in Japan: An Ecological Study |
| title_sort | association between air pollutants and cancer incidence rates in japan an ecological study |
| topic | air pollution environmental pollution cancer environmental epidemiology |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-9992/4/1/15 |
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