Long-term residential exposure to air pollution and lung cancer in Korea

Abstract

Introduction: According to the latest cancer registry data, in Korea the mortality rates of lung cancer ranked first among cancers. There is accumulating evidence that air pollution causes lung cancer. Still, too few study was conducted in Korea. Thus, the association between air pollution and lung cancer should be viewed as a major public health threat in Korea. Methods: We investigated lung cancer incidence in relation to long-term exposure to three ambient air pollutants, using a Korean population-based case-control study. We compared 910 incident, histologically confirmed lung cancer cases with 910 population controls from 2014 to 2015. We developed land use regression models to estimate annual residential exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), particulate matter (PM10), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over a 20-year exposure period. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: The increase in lung cancer incidence (expressed as adjusted ORs) was 1.010 (95% CI = 1.001-1.020) with a ten-unit increase in PM10 (μg/m3), and 1.008 (0.999-1.016) with a ten-unit increase in NO2 (ppb). Conclusions: Exposure to PM10 and NO2 were positively associated with a risk of lung cancer in this Korean study. Further investigation is needed into possible effects of other pollutants on development of lung cancer.