Relationship of leukemias with long-term ambient air pollution exposures in the adult Danish Population

Abstract

Background: Few population-based epidemiological studies of adults have examined the potential relationship between ambient air pollution and leukemias.Methods: Using Danish National Cancer Registry data and Danish DEHM-UBM-AirGIS system-modelled air pollution exposures, we examined whether particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5), black carbon (BC), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3), were associated with adult leukemia in general or by subtype. We included 14,986 adult cases diagnosed from 1989 to 2014 and 51,624 population-based controls matched by age, sex and calendar time. Relationships of exposure to each pollutant with total and subtype leukemias were assessed in separate conditional logistic regression models, adjusted for socio-demographic factors.Results: Fully-adjusted models showed higher risk of leukemia with higher 10 year average exposure to PM2.5 (ORs per 10µg/m3: 1.17, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.32). We also found a positive relationship with BC averaged over the year prior to diagnosis and higher positive associations with PM2.5 exposures averaged over one and five years prior to diagnosis. Higher one year average PM2.5 exposures were associated with higher risks for acute myeloid and chronic lymphoblastic leukemia. Relationships with other pollutants were not observed.Conclusions: This study showed higher risk for adult leukemia in association with higher PM2.5 concentration at the residence.