Abstract
Background and Aim: Wildfires emit many carcinogenic pollutants that contaminate air, water, terrestrial and indoor environments. However, little is currently known about the relationship between exposure to wildfires and cancer risk. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between residential exposure to wildfires and the incidence of several cancer outcomes in a national, population-based cohort in Canada Methods: We conducted a cohort study of over two million Canadians followed for cancer incidence over 20 years (approximately 34 million person-years). Exposures to wildfires were assigned based on area burned within a 20 or 50 km radius of residential locations and updated for annual residential mobility. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate associations between exposure to wildfires and specific cancers associated with carcinogenic compounds released by wildfires including lung and brain cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and leukemia, adjusted for many personal and neighbourhood-level covariates. Results: Wildfire exposure was consistently associated with slightly increased incidence of lung cancer and brain tumors. For example, cohort members experiencing a wildfire within 50 km of residential locations in the past ten years had a 4.9% (adjusted HR= 1.049, 95% CI: 1.028-1.071) relatively higher incidence of lung cancer than unexposed populations, and a 10% (adjusted HR= 1.100, 95% CI: 1.026-1.179) relatively higher incidence of brain tumors. Similar associations were observed for the 20 km buffer size. Wildfires were not associated with hematologic cancers in this study, and concentration-response trends were not readily apparent when area burned was modelled as a continuous variable. Conclusions: Long-term exposure to wildfires may increase the risk of lung cancer and brain tumors. Further work is needed to develop long-term estimates of wildfire exposures that capture the complex mixture of environmental pollutants released during these events. Keyword: wildfires, cancer
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