Mitigating air pollution’s impact on lung cancer in a large-scale longitudinal study: The unexplored potential of dietary interventions

IF 6.2 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety Pub Date : 2025-04-23 DOI:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2025.118230

Yong-sheng Yang , Xu-wei Tang , Ji-fu Wu , Zhi-ying Zhan, Zhi-jian Hu, Fei He

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Lung cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally, influenced by environmental and lifestyle factors. However, evidence on the impact of multiple air pollutants is limited. Moreover, their combined effect of air pollutants and dietary patterns on lung cancer remains unclear.

Methods

This study used UK Biobank data to assess the impact of mixed air pollutants (PM₁₀, PM_2.5, NO₂, NO_x, and SO₂) on lung cancer risk, with pollution scores based on weighted regression coefficients. Diet quality was measured using the Mediterranean Diet-based Healthy Diet Score. Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs).

Results

Our analysis included 327,147 participants with 3705 incident lung cancer cases. Higher exposure to air pollutants significantly increased lung cancer risk (HR: 1.41, 95 % CI: 1.34–1.48 per interquartile range (IQR) increase in air pollution score). Per IQR increase, HRs (95 % Cis) for individual pollutants were as follows: PM₁₀,1.25(1.19–1.32), PM_2.5, 1.50(1.41–1.59), NO₂, 1.35(1.29–1.42), NO_x, 1.29(1.24–1.34), and SO₂, 1.20(1.15–1.26). Conversely, a higher healthy diet score was associated with lower lung cancer risk, with each IQR increase corresponding to an HR of 0.88 (95 % CI: 0.85–0.90). The combination of high air pollution and an unhealthy diet showed synergistic effects (synergy index: 1.40, 95 % CI: 1.11–1.76), further elevating lung cancer risk.

Conclusions

Poor dietary habits exacerbate the adverse effects of long-term air pollution exposure on lung cancer risk. Public health interventions promoting dietary improvements and reducing air pollution are critical for lung cancer prevention.

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在一项大规模的纵向研究中减轻空气污染对肺癌的影响：饮食干预的未开发潜力

受环境和生活方式因素的影响，肺癌仍然是全球癌症相关死亡的主要原因。然而，关于多种空气污染物影响的证据有限。此外，空气污染物和饮食模式对肺癌的综合影响尚不清楚。方法本研究利用英国生物银行的数据评估混合空气污染物（PM10、PM2.5、NO2、NOx和SO2）对肺癌风险的影响，污染评分基于加权回归系数。饮食质量采用地中海饮食健康饮食评分来衡量。采用Cox比例风险模型计算风险比（hr）和95% %置信区间（ci）。结果我们的分析包括327147名参与者，3705例肺癌病例。较高的空气污染物暴露显著增加肺癌风险（相对危险度：1.41,95 空气污染评分每四分位数范围（IQR）增加% CI: 1.34-1.48）。每增加IQR，单个污染物的hr（95 % Cis）如下：PM10为1.25(1.19-1.32),PM2.5为1.50(1.41-1.59)，NO2为1.35(1.29 - 1.42)，NOx为1.29(1.24-1.34)，SO2为1.20（1.15-1.26）。相反，较高的健康饮食评分与较低的肺癌风险相关，每增加一次IQR对应的HR为0.88（95 % CI: 0.85-0.90）。高空气污染和不健康饮食的组合表现出协同效应（协同指数：1.40,95 % CI: 1.11-1.76），进一步提高肺癌风险。结论不良的饮食习惯加剧了长期空气污染暴露对肺癌风险的不良影响。促进改善饮食和减少空气污染的公共卫生干预措施对预防肺癌至关重要。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 环境科学-毒理学

CiteScore

12.10

自引率

5.90%

发文量

1234

审稿时长

88 days

期刊介绍： Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety is a multi-disciplinary journal that focuses on understanding the exposure and effects of environmental contamination on organisms including human health. The scope of the journal covers three main themes. The topics within these themes, indicated below, include (but are not limited to) the following: Ecotoxicology、Environmental Chemistry、Environmental Safety etc.