Long term exposure to air pollution and kidney parenchyma cancer - Effects of low-level air pollution: a Study in Europe (ELAPSE)

Ulla Arthur Hvidtfeldt*, Tahir Taj, Jie Chen, Sophia Rodopoulou, Maciej Strak, Kees de Hoogh, Zorana J Andersen, Tom Bellander, Jørgen Brandt, Daniela Fecht, Francesco Forastiere, John Gulliver, Ole Hertel, Barbara Hoffmann, Jeanette T Jørgensen, Klea Katsouyanni, Matthias Ketzel, Anton Lager, Karin Leander, Petter LjungmanPatrik K E Magnusson, Gabriele Nagel, Göran Pershagen, Debora Rizzuto, Evangelia Samoli, Rina So, Massimo Stafoggia, Anne Tjønneland, Roel Vermeulen, Gudrun Weinmayr, Kathrin Wolf, Jiawei Zhang, Emanuel Zitt, Bert Brunekreef, Gerard Hoek, Ole Raaschou-Nielsen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Particulate matter (PM) is classified as a group 1 human carcinogen. Previous experimental studies suggest that particles in diesel exhaust induce oxidative stress, inflammation and DNA damage in kidney cells, but the evidence from population studies linking air pollution to kidney cancer is limited.

METHODS: We pooled six European cohorts (N = 302,493) to assess the association of residential exposure to fine particles (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), black carbon (BC), warm season ozone (O3) and eight elemental components of PM2.5 (copper, iron, potassium, nickel, sulfur, silicon, vanadium, and zinc) with cancer of the kidney parenchyma. The main exposure model was developed for year 2010. We defined kidney parenchyma cancer according to the International Classification of Diseases 9th and 10th Revision codes 189.0 and C64. We applied Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for potential confounders at the individual and area-level.

RESULTS: The participants were followed from baseline (1985-2005) to 2011-2015. A total of 847 cases occurred during 5,497,514 person-years of follow-up (average 18.2 years). Median (5-95%) exposure levels of NO2, PM2.5, BC and O3 were 24.1 μg/m3 (12.8-39.2), 15.3 μg/m3 (8.6-19.2), 1.6 10-5 m-1 (0.7-2.1), and 87.0 μg/m3 (70.3-97.4), respectively. The results of the fully adjusted linear analyses showed a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.03 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.92, 1.15) per 10 μg/m³ NO2, 1.04 (95% CI: 0.88, 1.21) per 5 μg/m³ PM2.5, 0.99 (95% CI: 0.89, 1.11) per 0.5 10-5 m-1 BCE, and 0.88 (95% CI: 0.76, 1.02) per 10 μg/m³ O3. We did not find associations between any of the elemental components of PM2.5 and cancer of the kidney parenchyma.

CONCLUSION: We did not observe an association between long-term ambient air pollution exposure and incidence of kidney parenchyma cancer.

Original languageEnglish
Article number114385
Pages (from-to)1-8
Number of pages8
JournalEnvironmental Research
Volume215
Issue numberPart 2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The research described in this article was conducted under contract to the Health Effects Institute ( HEI ), an organisation jointly funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) (Assistance Award No. R-82811201 ) and certain motor vehicle and engine manufacturers. The contents of this article do not necessarily reflect the views of HEI , or its sponsors, nor do they necessarily reflect the views and policies of the EPA or motor vehicle and engine manufacturers.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Inc.

Keywords

  • Kidney cancer incidence
  • Nitrogen dioxide
  • Ozone
  • PM elemental Components
  • Particulate matter
  • air Pollution

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