Myers and alumni publish research on air pollution and lung cancer rates

School of Public and Population Health Professor Douglas Myers, alongside Master of Public Health alumni Srijana Mainali and Sanzida Afrin and University of Massachusetts Lowell Emeritus Professor Dave Kriebel, recently published a research study titled: "Air pollution and lung cancer: an investigation of county-level residual incidence rates with smoking eliminated" in the Journal Environmental Health.

While smoking remains the leading cause of lung cancer, this research team aimed to see just how prevalent the effects of air pollution are on lung cancer rates. And, they wanted to answer the question: "If no one smoked 20 years ago, what would lung cancer rates be today?"

The researchers reviewed lung cancer data from over 1,000 counties across 15 U.S. states. Using this data, the team developed a simulation where no one in the data had ever smoked. In the simulation, without any instances of smoking, the researchers found that lung cancer dropped drastically in many counties, while other counties only noticed a small drop in lung cancer rates.

This led the researchers to find that counties with higher air pollution had the smallest drops in lung cancer rates as part of their simulation. These counties ultimately had higher concentrations of radon, benzene, diesel exhaust and polycyclic organic matter - chemicals often derived from combustion or industrial processes - that degrade air quality.

The team's study was also recently featured by Pittsburgh's NPR news station. Learn more about this study and the researchers here.

Share This

• Share on Facebook
• Share on X
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share through Email