Most definitive study yettiny particles to lung cancer

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Most definitive study yet links tiny particles to lung cancer

Source: (cancerfacts.com)

Wednesday, March 06, 2002

 

 

NEW YORK -- Mar. 6, 2002 -- Long-term exposure to air pollution that

contains high concentrations of tiny particles of soot and dust

significantly increases the risk of dying from lung cancer and heart

disease, according to a 16-year nationwide study.

 

The research team led by Dr. George Thurston of New York School of

Medicine also found that, over many years, the danger of breathing

soot-filled air in polluted cities is comparable to the health risks

associated with long-term exposure to second-hand smoke.

 

" This study is compelling because it involved hundreds of thousands of

people in many cities across the U.S. who were followed for almost two

decades, " Thurston said in a press release.

 

Previous studies have linked soot in the air to many respiratory

ailments and even death, but the new study published in this week's

issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association is the most

definitive yet on the long-term impact of such air pollution.

 

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, involved a

collaboration of researchers at NYU School of Medicine and Brigham

Young University who co-led the study and investigators from

University of Ottawa and the American Cancer Society. The researchers

assessed the impact of particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers (called

fine particulate matter) in cities across the United States. A human

hair is 100 micrometers thick.

 

The researchers analyzed data from some 500,000 adults who were

followed from 1982 to 1998 as part of an ongoing cancer study. The

data, which included cause of death, were linked to air pollution

levels for cities nationwide using advanced statistical modeling to

control for individual risk factors, such as age, smoking status, body

mass, and diet, as well as for regional differences among the study

populations.

 

The researchers calculated that the number of deaths from lung cancer

increases by 8 percent for every 10 micrograms of fine particulate

matter per cubic meter. Larger particles and gaseous pollutants were

generally not as associated with higher number of deaths.

 

" The increased risk of lung cancer and heart disease from air

pollution was clearly far less than the risks associated with active

cigarette smoking, " says Dr. Arden Pope, professor of economics at

Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, the study's co-leader.

" However, we found that the risk of dying from lung cancer as well as

heart disease in the most polluted cities was comparable to the risk

associated with nonsmokers being exposed to second-hand smoke over a

long period of time. "

 

The health dangers of tiny particles of soot in the air have been the

focus of considerable controversy since 1997, when the Environmental

Protection Agency issued new regulations tightening its standards to

cover particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers. Industry fought the

regulations, but the EPA prevailed and the agency is now considering

new rules for limiting the emission of the particles.

 

The EPA set annual average limits on fine particulate matter to 15

micrograms per cubic meter in 1997. However, many cities presently

exceed that standard. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington,

D.C. all now exceed that level. Despite this improvement, however, the

study shows that the prevailing levels of fine particulate matter air

pollution in the U.S. are still associated with significant risk of

cancer and cardio-pulmonary deaths.

 

The new study extends previous studies that linked chronic exposure to

the small particles to deaths from lung cancer and other causes, and

addresses many of the criticisms of the earlier studies.