The more fine dust exposure, the higher the risk of kidney cancer and prostate cancer
Jan 23, 2025
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A research team led by Park Yong-hyun (co-corresponding author) of the Department of Urology at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital of Catholic University, Noh Mi-jung (co-corresponding author) of Dankook University's School of Health Sciences, and Park Ji-hwan (first author) of the coding course at Dankook University's Free Liberal Arts University used the National Health Insurance Corporation database to analyze 230,197 people who met the criteria in 2008. Since then, Air Korea fine dust data has been linked to confirm fine dust exposure for three years from 2005, and the tracking period has been calculated for eight years from 2010. Fine dust grades were used as good (0-30㎍/㎥), normal (31-80㎍/㎥), bad (81-150㎍/㎥), and very bad (> 150㎍/㎥) according to Korean standards.
As a result, the incidence of urinary cancer and the distribution of fine dust concentration by region in Korea showed similar patterns.
Among them, patients (56,677) who were newly diagnosed with urinary cancer were divided into two groups based on 56㎍/㎥, the median concentration of fine dust, and the risk rate of urinary cancer caused by exposure to fine dust was analyzed. As a result, the group with high exposure to fine dust (more than 56㎍/㎥) had a higher risk of developing urinary cancer, especially kidney and prostate cancer among urinary cancers. Even after correcting for age, sex, smoking, drinking, diabetes, and hypertension, the results were the same.
Fine dust is known as a first-class carcinogen that causes cancer, but previous studies conducted in Europe and China showed conflicting results on the association of urinary cancer. This study is meaningful by correcting variables using a large database in Korea, verifying statistical significance and proving correlation.
Professor Park Ji-hwan of Dankook University explained the significance of the study, saying, `We confirmed the impact of the environment on the health of the people in Korea by linking it with various public big data such as long-term medical big data and Air Korea fine dust data.' Professor Noh Mi-jung expressed his aspiration, `We will continue mid- to long-term research on environment and health as fine dust is getting worse recently than when the research was conducted and air pollution measurements are being conducted more widely.'
Professor Park Yong-hyun of Seoul St. Mary's Hospital advised "However, as the study found that exposure to fine dust did not affect the increased risk of kidney and prostate cancer for subjects who engage in regular physical activities, steady exercise even in indoor spaces on days with severe fine dust will help maintain health."
The findings were published in the international cancer journal 『American Journal of Cancer Research』.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
