particulates, cancer, and heart disease

["Ron Larson" <ronallarson@qwest.net>]

Stovers:

 

    Yesterday's US papers reported on a new 20-year US medical study showing quite harmful effects of particulates.  I also heard one of the authors (George Thurston) on a television show today - and he used a phrase like a 2-year reduction in life span for some US eastern cities.  He was calling for additional particulate-control measures in the US as being hugely cost-effective.

 

    My perception of the studies by Professors Smith and Kammen is that they did not look at stove links to cancer and heart diseases (concentrating on pneumonia and other pulmonary diseases.  Also cooks using wood stoves would have much higher particulate levels than recorded in the US (but maybe lower sulfate levels). 

 

    I wonder if any list member can comment on what this study (summary below) should mean relative to justifying additional international attention to cleaning up stove emissions in developing countries.

 

Ron

 

Lung Cancer, Cardiopulmonary Mortality, and Long-term Exposure to Fine Particulate Air Pollution  
 
 
  C. Arden Pope III, PhD; Richard T. Burnett, PhD; Michael J. Thun, MD; Eugenia E. Calle, PhD; Daniel Krewski, PhD; Kazuhiko Ito, PhD; George D. Thurston, ScD

Context  Associations have been found between day-to-day particulate air pollution and increased risk of various adverse health outcomes, including cardiopulmonary mortality. However, studies of health effects of long-term particulate air pollution have been less conclusive.

Objective  To assess the relationship between long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution and all-cause, lung cancer, and cardiopulmonary mortality.

Design, Setting, and Participants  Vital status and cause of death data were collected by the American Cancer Society as part of the Cancer Prevention II study, an ongoing prospective mortality study, which enrolled approximately 1.2 million adults in 1982. Participants completed a questionnaire detailing individual risk factor data (age, sex, race, weight, height, smoking history, education, marital status, diet, alcohol consumption, and occupational exposures). The risk factor data for approximately 500 000 adults were linked with air pollution data for metropolitan areas throughout the United States and combined with vital status and cause of death data through December 31, 1998.

Main Outcome Measure  All-cause, lung cancer, and cardiopulmonary mortality.

Results  Fine particulate and sulfur oxide–related pollution were associated with all-cause, lung cancer, and cardiopulmonary mortality. Each 10-µg/m³ elevation in fine particulate air pollution was associated with approximately a 4%, 6%, and 8% increased risk of all-cause, cardiopulmonary, and lung cancer mortality, respectively. Measures of coarse particle fraction and total suspended particles were not consistently associated with mortality.

Conclusion  Long-term exposure to combustion-related fine particulate air pollution is an important environmental risk factor for cardiopulmonary and lung cancer mortality.

JAMA. 2002;287:1132-1141