Association between the incidence of major malignant tumors and main air pollutants in Shanxi Province

Objective To explore the correlation of major air pollutants and the occurrence of malignant tumors in Shanxi Province. Methods The data of patients with 10 types of major cancer in Shanxi Cancer Hospital in 2014 were analyzed, and the concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, CO, O3 as well as air quality index (AQI) per month were collected. The correlation and regression analysis were carried out by SPSS 17.0 and SAS 9.2. Results The malignant tumors were significantly associated with PM2.5 (r=0.55) , PM10 (r=0.49) , SO2 (r=0.56) , O3 (r=0.56) (P all<0.05) , and were negatively correlated with AQI (r=-0.65, P<0.05) . PM2.5 was significantly positively associated with lung cancer (r=0.54) . Cervical cancer and intestinal cancer were positively associated with PM2.5 (r=0.55, 0.61) , PM10 (r=0.61, 0.57) , SO2 (r=0.68, 0.59) and O3 (r=0.65, 0.59) . Gastric cancer was positively associated with PM2.5 (r=0.54) , PM10 (r=0.52) and SO2 (r=0.52) . Lymphoma was positively associated with PM2.5 (r=0.57) , SO2 (r=0.74) and O3 (r=0.54) . Liver cancer was positively associated with PM2.5 (r=0.62) and PM10 (r=0.59) . Ovarian cancer was positively associated with PM10 (r=0.64) . Breast cancer and esophageal cancer were positively asscocated with O3 (r=0.71, 0.53) . AQI was negatively correlated with cancers except for breast and bladder cancer. There was quadratic correlation between the incidence of malignant tumors and AQI. Conclusions The air pollution may increase the incidence of malignant tumors, and the potential health risks should not be neglected. Key words: Air pollution; Air quality index; Cancer