Lung cancer and ambient air pollution in Helsinki: Fid-Bau Portal

Lung cancer and ambient air pollution in Helsinki

Pönkä, Antti / Pukkala, Eero / Hakulinen, Timo

AbstractIn a record linkage study between the population register of the City of Helsinki and the Finnish Cancer Registry, standardized incidence ratios (SIR) of lung cancer for 33 subareas of Helsinki were estimated in order to determine the regional differences and the extent to which these were the effects of socioeconomic factors and air pollution. In addition, the SIRs for people living along main streets were calculated. In 1975–1986, 2 439 cases of lung cancer among males and 765 among females were diagnosed in a population of 0.5 million inhabitants. In the subareas, the SIR for males varied from 0.56 to 1.56 and for females from 0.29 to 3.17. A strong inverse association, most likely due to smoking, was observed between lung cancer and average educational level. The levels of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the air of various parts of the city were assessed from mathematical models. After adjustment for age, sex, and level of education, the lung cancer risk increased slightly, but nonsignificantly, with increasing SO2 concentration, being 1.3% higher in the subareas with the highest SO2 concentrations as compared with the subareas with the lowest concentrations. There was no consistent relation between the concentration of NO2 and the incidence of lung cancer. The SIR for people living along main streets was slightly lower than for the whole city, varying from 0.39 to 1.31 for males and from 0.24 to 1.51 for females. This variation was likewise mainly attributable to average educational level, but the multiple regression model also revealed slightly, although nonsignificantly, higher SIRs along the streets with denser road traffic.