Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 23, 2025
Anticancer Efficacy of Photodynamic Therapy with Lung Cancer-Targeted Nanoparticles
Published on: December 1, 2016
The PM2.5 concentration reduction improves survival rate of lung cancer in Beijing
Lei Yang1, Ning Wang1, Shuo Liu1
1Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education/Beijing), Beijing Office for Cancer Prevention and Control, Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing 100142, China.
Introduction:
Long-term exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has been linked to increases in the incidence of lung cancer. However, more evidence is needed to conclude its effects on lung cancer survival.
Objectives:
The study aimed to explore the relationship between long-term PM2.5 exposure and lung cancer survival and evaluated the benefits of clean air actions in Beijing.
Methods:
A whole-population cohort study was conducted on lung cancer patients diagnosed between 2001 and 2017. An atmospheric chemical transport model was used to estimate exposure under a counterfactual scenario without the policy and then quantified the effect of the policy. Cox regression models were used with the seasonality-adjusted PM2.5 as the main effect.
Results:
A 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 was estimated to be with a 6.5 % (95 % CI: 4.8 %, 8.2 %) increase in the mortality rates. The association was heterogeneous and modified by individual-level characteristics. The clean air actions were estimated to have prevented 3548 (95 % CI: 3280, 3825) premature deaths and to have prolonged survival time by 4.29 months (95 % CI: 0.01, 25.11).
Conclusion:
Our findings suggest that PM2.5 exposure lowers the survival rate for lung cancer. The clean air actions implemented in Beijing can protect lung cancer patients by increasing their survival time.
Synopsis:
Long-term exposure to PM2.5 can lower lung patients' survival rates whereas the clean air actions in Beijing have prolonged these patients' survival time by reducing PM2.5 level.
