Long-Term Exposure to Air Pollutants and Cancer Mortality: A Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between main air pollutants and all cancer mortality by performing a meta-analysis. We searched PubMed, EMBASE (a biomedical and pharmacological bibliographic database of published literature produced by Elsevier), and the reference lists of other reviews until April 2018. A random-effects model was employed to analyze the meta-estimates of each pollutant. A total of 30 cohort studies were included in the final analysis. Overall risk estimates of cancer mortality for 10 µg/m³ per increase of particulate matter (PM)_2.5, PM₁₀, and NO₂ were 1.17 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11⁻1.24), 1.09 (95% CI: 1.04⁻1.14), and 1.06 (95% CI: 1.02⁻1.10), respectively. With respect to the type of cancer, significant hazardous influences of PM_2.5 were noticed for lung cancer mortality and non-lung cancer mortality including liver cancer, colorectal cancer, bladder cancer, and kidney cancer, respectively, while PM₁₀ had harmful effects on mortality from lung cancer, pancreas cancer, and larynx cancer. Our meta-analysis of cohort studies indicates that exposure to the main air pollutants is associated with increased mortality from all cancers.