Global prostate cancer risk associated with microplastic exposure: a statistical and machine learning analysis

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Oncology
• Toxicology

Background:

• Prostate cancer is a prevalent malignancy globally, particularly in high-income nations.
• Environmental factors are increasingly scrutinized for their role in cancer development.
• Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants with potential health implications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between microplastic exposure and prostate cancer incidence.
• To identify key exposure variables linked to prostate cancer risk using statistical and machine learning methods.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from 22 countries on microplastic exposure indicators (stool, air, water, seafood, personal care products).
• Application of K-means clustering, principal component analysis, and random forest modeling.
• Examination of correlations between microplastic exposure, heavy metal burden, and prostate cancer rates.

Main Results:

• Stool microplastic concentrations and heavy metal burden showed the strongest associations with prostate cancer incidence.
• External microplastic exposure metrics did not consistently correlate with reported prostate cancer incidence across countries.
• Internal retention and tissue-response pathways are plausible but require further validation.

Conclusions:

• Findings highlight the need to integrate diverse exposure pathways and biomonitoring for microplastic-related cancer risk assessment.
• The study's ecological design and limited sample size necessitate interpreting results as exploratory.
• Further longitudinal and individual-level studies are crucial to establish causality.