ArticleThorax2016
Air pollution affects lung cancer survival.
Article in Thorax, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 95 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
95 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 246 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessing the Global Impact of Ambient Air Pollution on Cancer Incidence and Mortality: A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis.JCO global oncology · 2024Pooled it
- Impacts of Outdoor Particulate Matter Exposure on the Incidence of Lung Cancer and Mortality.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Pooled it
- Long-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide and mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis.The Science of the total environment · 2021Pooled it
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies of long term outdoor nitrogen dioxide exposure and mortality.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- The relationship between exposure to particulate matter and breast cancer incidence and mortality: A meta-analysis.Medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Long-Term Exposure to Air Pollutants and Cancer Mortality: A Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Pooled it
- Health effects of air pollution on chronic respiratory diseases.The Korean journal of internal medicine · 2026Review
- Hallmarks of lung cancer driven by inhalable particulate matter: From cell-intrinsic oncogenic traits to microenvironment remodeling.Innovation (Cambridge (Mass.)) · 2026Review
- Article
- Industrial air pollution and lung and bronchus cancer survival in New Mexico, USA.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2026Article
- A One Health Perspective on Cancer: A Narrative Review.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Associations between Ambient Air Pollution and Cardiovascular and Respiratory Healthcare Visits in Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2026Article
- Associations of prenatal fine particulate matter mixtures with neurodevelopmental outcomes in early childhood: component- and source-specific insights.Particle and fibre toxicology · 2026Article
- Differences in Lung Cancer Survival by Demographic Characteristics and Social Determinants of Health, United States, 2010-2020.Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) · 2026Article
- Article
- Time-varying exposure to ambient air pollution and mortality among colon cancer patients in northern Thailand: a 15-year retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Decomposition analysis of lung cancer and COPD mortality attributable to ambient PMAsia-Pacific journal of oncology nursing · 2025Article
- Global impact of air pollution on cancer: causal evidence and health inequities across regions from 1990 to 2021.BMC cancer · 2025Article
- Particulate matter air pollution: effects on the respiratory system.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2025Review
- Particulate matter air pollution as a cause of lung cancer: epidemiological and experimental evidence.British journal of cancer · 2025Review
35 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleExposure to ambient air pollutants has been associated with increased lung cancer incidence and mortality, but due to the high case fatality rate, little is known about the impacts of air pollution exposures on survival after diagnosis. This study aimed to determine whether ambient air pollutant exposures are associated with the survival of patients with lung cancer.
methodsParticipants were 352 053 patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer during 1988-2009 in California, ascertained by the California Cancer Registry. Average residential ambient air pollutant concentrations were estimated for each participant's follow-up period. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate HRs relating air pollutant exposures to all-cause mortality overall and stratified by stage (localised only, regional and distant site) and histology (squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, small cell carcinoma, large cell carcinoma and others) at diagnosis, adjusting for potential individual and area-level confounders.
resultsAdjusting for histology and other potential confounders, the HRs associated with 1 SD increases in NO2, O3, PM10, PM2.5 for patients with localised stage at diagnosis were 1.30 (95% CI 1.28 to 1.32), 1.04 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.05), 1.26 (95% CI 1.25 to 1.28) and 1.38 (95% CI 1.35 to 1.41), respectively. Adjusted HRs were smaller in later stages and varied by histological type within stage (p<0.01, except O3). The largest associations were for patients with early-stage non-small cell cancers, particularly adenocarcinomas.
conclusionsThese epidemiological findings support the hypothesis that air pollution exposures after lung cancer diagnosis shorten survival. Future studies should evaluate the impacts of exposure reduction.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.