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. 2018 Jun;29(6):563-572.
doi: 10.1007/s10552-018-1036-x. Epub 2018 Apr 25.

Ambient PM2.5 air pollution exposure and hepatocellular carcinoma incidence in the United States

Trang VoPham  1   2 , Kimberly A Bertrand  3 , Rulla M Tamimi  4   5 , Francine Laden  4   5   6 , Jaime E Hart  5   6
Affiliations

Ambient PM2.5 air pollution exposure and hepatocellular carcinoma incidence in the United States

Trang VoPham et al. Cancer Causes Control. 2018 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: To conduct the first epidemiologic study prospectively examining the association between particulate matter air pollution < 2.5 µm in diameter (PM2.5) exposure and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk in the U.S.

Methods: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) provided information on HCC cases diagnosed between 2000 and 2014 from 16 population-based cancer registries across the U.S. Ambient PM2.5 exposure was estimated by linking the SEER county with a spatial PM2.5 model using a geographic information system. Poisson regression with robust variance estimation was used to calculate incidence rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between ambient PM2.5 exposure per 10 µg/m3 increase and HCC risk adjusting for individual-level age at diagnosis, sex, race, year of diagnosis, SEER registry, and county-level information on health conditions, lifestyle, demographic, socioeconomic, and environmental factors.

Results: Higher levels of ambient PM2.5 exposure were associated with a statistically significant increased risk for HCC (n = 56,245 cases; adjusted IRR per 10 µg/m3 increase = 1.26, 95% CI 1.08, 1.47; p < 0.01).

Conclusions: If confirmed in studies with individual-level PM2.5 exposure and risk factor information, these results suggest that ambient PM2.5 exposure may be a risk factor for HCC in the U.S.

Keywords: Air pollution; Geographic information system; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Liver cancer; PM2.5; Particulate matter.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Ambient PM2.5 exposure (μg/m3) in 2000 by quintiles across 607 counties in the U.S. Higher PM2.5 levels are shown in darker colors. The PM2.5 quintiles were calculated using all 607 counties captured by the 16 SEER population-based cancer registries included in the study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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