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Environmental Risk and Cancer Epidemiology

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 March 2019) | Viewed by 25380

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Guest Editor
Research Group on Statistics, Econometrics and Health (GRECS), University of Girona, CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Carrer de la Universitat de Girona 10, Campus de Montilivi, 17003 Girona, Spain
Interests: environmental epidemiology; spatial statistics; cancer epidemiology; clinical epidemiology; health econometrics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Although there is ample evidence that environmental exposures play a very important role in the development and progression of cancer, there are still important gaps in research. In this sense, little is known about the role of interactions between environmental exposures and other risk factors in the aetiology of cancer. It is also not known how these interactions influence the greater susceptibility of the effects of environmental exposures in individuals with particular genetic predispositions. In addition, there are few studies that have considered more than one environmental exposure and even less those that have analyzed their synergies and antagonisms. Another aspect little studied is the latency of the disease or the exposure time needed to produce a clinically-significant impact. Last, but not least, the study of geographical clusters of cancer cases, especially those related to environmental factors, could be extended to that of temporal and spatio-temporal clusters. For this Special Issue, I invite submissions that in any way inform the issue of environmental risks and cancer epidemiology, including, but not limited to, environmental epidemiology, spatial epidemiology and public health.

Prof. Dr. Marc Saez
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Environmental exposures
  • Cancer epidemiology
  • Interactions
  • Genetic predisposition
  • Geographical clusters
  • Spatio-temporal clusters

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1898 KiB  
Article
Cancer Mortality Trend in Central Italy: Focus on A “Low Rate of Land Use” Area from 1982 to 2011
by Francesca Santilli, Stefano Martellucci, Jennifer Di Pasquale, Cecilia Mei, Fabrizio Liberati, Carmela Protano, Matteo Vitali, Maurizio Sorice and Vincenzo Mattei
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(4), 628; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16040628 - 21 Feb 2019
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2602
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to estimate total cancer mortality trends from 1982 to 2011 in a “low rate of land use” province of the Latium region (Rieti, central Italy) characterized by a low degree of urbanization, a high prevalence of [...] Read more.
The aim of the present study was to estimate total cancer mortality trends from 1982 to 2011 in a “low rate of land use” province of the Latium region (Rieti, central Italy) characterized by a low degree of urbanization, a high prevalence of elderly, and a low number of births. Mortality data of the studied period, provided by the Italian National Institute of Statistics, were used for calculating standardized cancer mortality rates. Trends in mortality were analyzed using Joinpoint regression analysis. Results showed that total standardized cancer mortality rates decreased in the monitored area over the study period. A comparison with other provinces of the same region evidenced that the studied province presented the lowest cancer mortality. The three systems/apparatuses affected by cancer that mainly influenced cancer mortality in the monitored province were the trachea-bronchus-lung, colorectal-anus, and stomach. These findings could be attributed to the implement of preventive initiatives performed in the early 2000s, to healthier environmental scenario, and to lower levels of carcinogenic pollutants in air, water, and soil matrices. Thus, our results indicate that the studied area could be considered a “healthy” benchmark for studies in oncological diseases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Risk and Cancer Epidemiology)
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15 pages, 793 KiB  
Article
Breast Cancer and Exposure to Organochlorines in the CECILE Study: Associations with Plasma Levels Measured at the Time of Diagnosis and Estimated during Adolescence
by Delphine Bachelet, Marc-André Verner, Monica Neri, Émilie Cordina Duverger, Corinne Charlier, Patrick Arveux, Sami Haddad and Pascal Guénel
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(2), 271; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16020271 - 18 Jan 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3902
Abstract
Exposure to environmental chemicals with hormonal effects, such as organochlorine compounds (OCs), during developmental periods of breast cells may have an impact on the incidence of breast cancer later in life. However, the assessment of exposure to these chemicals that occurred in early [...] Read more.
Exposure to environmental chemicals with hormonal effects, such as organochlorine compounds (OCs), during developmental periods of breast cells may have an impact on the incidence of breast cancer later in life. However, the assessment of exposure to these chemicals that occurred in early life at the time of breast cancer development in adult women is a difficult challenge in epidemiological studies. Plasma levels of the OCs p,p’-dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethene (DDE) and polychlorinated biphenyl congener 153 (PCB153) were measured in 695 cases and 1055 controls of a population-based case-control study conducted in France (CECILE study). Based on these values, we used a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model to estimate PCB153 levels at age 11–20 years when the women were adolescents. Overall, there was no clear association between breast cancer risk and measured levels of DDE and PCB153 at the time of diagnosis, but there was a trend of decreasing odds ratios of breast cancer with increasing DDE and PCB153 levels in women aged 50 years and over. The PBPK model revealed that PCB153 concentrations estimated during adolescence were highest in the youngest women born after 1960 who reached adolescence at a time when environmental contamination was maximum, and very low in the oldest women who attained adolescence before the contamination peak. Negative associations between breast cancer and PCB153 estimates during adolescence were also found. The negative associations between DDE and PCB153 levels measured at the time of diagnosis or estimated during adolescence in our study were unexplained. Further investigations are needed to clarify whether this finding is real or related to study artifacts. However, this study suggests that using PBPK models in epidemiological studies to back-estimate OC exposures during early life stages may be useful to address critical questions on cancer development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Risk and Cancer Epidemiology)
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18 pages, 824 KiB  
Article
Risk Assessment of Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl Benzene, and Xylene Concentrations from the Combustion of Coal in a Controlled Laboratory Environment
by Masilu Daniel Masekameni, Raeesa Moolla, Mary Gulumian and Derk Brouwer
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(1), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16010095 - 31 Dec 2018
Cited by 66 | Viewed by 6781
Abstract
A D-grade type coal was burned under simulated domestic practices in a controlled laboratory set-up, in order to characterize the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs); namely, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX). Near-field concentrations were collected in a shack-like structure constructed using [...] Read more.
A D-grade type coal was burned under simulated domestic practices in a controlled laboratory set-up, in order to characterize the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs); namely, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX). Near-field concentrations were collected in a shack-like structure constructed using corrugated iron, simulating a traditional house found in informal settlements in South Africa (SA). Measurements were carried out using the Synspec Spectras GC955 real-time monitor over a three-hour burn cycle. The 3-h average concentrations (in µg/m3) of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, p-xylene, and o-xylene were 919 ± 44, 2051 ± 91, 3838 ±19, 4245 ± 41 and 3576 ± 49, respectively. The cancer risk for adult males and females in a typical SA household exposure scenario was found to be 1.1 and 1.2 respectively, which are 110- and 120-fold higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated risk severity indicator (1 × 10−6). All four TEX (toluene, ethylbenzene, p-xylene and o-xylene) compounds recorded a Hazard Quotient (HQ) of less than 1, indicating a low risk of developing related non-carcinogenic health effects. The HQ for TEX ranged from 0.001 to 0.05, with toluene concentrations being the lowest, and ethylbenzene the highest. This study has demonstrated that domestic coal burning may be a significant source of BTEX emission exposure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Risk and Cancer Epidemiology)
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9 pages, 1727 KiB  
Article
Geographical Variation in Oral and Oropharynx Cancer Mortality in Brazil: A Bayesian Approach
by Emílio Prado da Fonseca, Regiane Cristina do Amaral, Antonio Carlos Pereira, Carla Martins Rocha and Marc Tennant
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(12), 2641; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122641 - 25 Nov 2018
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3333
Abstract
Recent studies have shown a high number of deaths from oral and oropharyngeal cancer worldwide, Brazil included. For this study, the deaths data (ICD-10, chapter II, categories C00 to C14) was obtained from Mortality Information System (SIM) and standardized by gender and population [...] Read more.
Recent studies have shown a high number of deaths from oral and oropharyngeal cancer worldwide, Brazil included. For this study, the deaths data (ICD-10, chapter II, categories C00 to C14) was obtained from Mortality Information System (SIM) and standardized by gender and population for each of the 554 Microregions of Brazil. The raw mortality rates were adopted as the standard and compared to the application of smoothing by the Bayesian model. In order to describe the geographical pattern of the occurrence of oral cancer, thematic maps were constructed, based on the distributions of mortality rates for Microregions and gender. Results: There were 7882 deaths registered due to oral and oropharyngeal cancer in Brazil, of which 6291 (79.81%) were male and 1591 (20.19%) female. The Empirical Bayesian Model presented greater scattering with mosaic appearance throughout the country, depicting high rates in Southeast and South regions interpolated with geographic voids of low rates in Midwest and North regions. For males, it was possible to identify expressive clusters in the Southeast and South regions. Conclusion: The Empirical Bayesian Model allowed an alternative interpretation of the oral and oropharynx cancer mortality mapping in Brazil. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Risk and Cancer Epidemiology)
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15 pages, 1793 KiB  
Article
Long-Term Exposure to Air Pollutants and Cancer Mortality: A Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies
by Hong-Bae Kim, Jae-Yong Shim, Byoungjin Park and Yong-Jae Lee
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(11), 2608; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15112608 - 21 Nov 2018
Cited by 103 | Viewed by 8055
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between main air pollutants and all cancer mortality by performing a meta-analysis. We searched PubMed, EMBASE (a biomedical and pharmacological bibliographic database of published literature produced by Elsevier), and the reference lists of [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between main air pollutants and all cancer mortality by performing a meta-analysis. We searched PubMed, EMBASE (a biomedical and pharmacological bibliographic database of published literature produced by Elsevier), and the reference lists of other reviews until April 2018. A random-effects model was employed to analyze the meta-estimates of each pollutant. A total of 30 cohort studies were included in the final analysis. Overall risk estimates of cancer mortality for 10 µg/m3 per increase of particulate matter (PM)2.5, PM10, and NO2 were 1.17 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11–1.24), 1.09 (95% CI: 1.04–1.14), and 1.06 (95% CI: 1.02–1.10), respectively. With respect to the type of cancer, significant hazardous influences of PM2.5 were noticed for lung cancer mortality and non-lung cancer mortality including liver cancer, colorectal cancer, bladder cancer, and kidney cancer, respectively, while PM10 had harmful effects on mortality from lung cancer, pancreas cancer, and larynx cancer. Our meta-analysis of cohort studies indicates that exposure to the main air pollutants is associated with increased mortality from all cancers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Risk and Cancer Epidemiology)
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