SynthesisBMJ open2025
Relationship between household air pollution and lung cancer in never smokers in high-income countries: a systematic review.
Synthesis in BMJ open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Lung Cancer in Never Smokers-An Underappreciated Public Health Burden.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Early Detection of Lung Cancer: A Review of Innovative Milestones and Techniques.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- EBUS-TBNA for Diagnosis and Staging of Lung Cancer: A Retrospective Regional Analysis Integrating Clinical and Molecular Data (EXPoSURE Score).Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesLung cancer is increasingly being diagnosed in non-smokers, with mounting evidence that household air pollution is a potential factor. Environmental risk factors for lung cancer in never-smokers (LCINS) in relation to combustion of biomass for heating and cooking in low-middle-income countries (LMICs) have been extensively explored. However, such evidence in high-income countries (HICs) is limited. We conducted a systematic review to explore potential relationships between exposure to cooking fumes, a type of household air pollution, and lung cancer, specifically in relation to never-smokers in HICs.
designSystematic review and narrative synthesis using the Critical Analysis Skills Programme (CASP) guidelines for case-control studies. DATA SOURCES: Embase, Scopus, the Cochrane library and CINAHL were searched, from inception to March 2024. Reference lists of articles were hand searched for additional papers. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Case-control studies focusing on household air pollution and its impact on LCINS in HICs were included. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Two independent reviewers searched, screened and coded included studies using a bespoke table. Quality of evidence was assessed in the selected studies using the CASP tool for case-control studies. Retained studies used different exposure assessment and reporting methods which were sufficiently heterogeneous to preclude meta-analysis; therefore, narrative synthesis was performed.
resultsThree papers were included, with a total of 3734 participants. All studies were conducted in Taiwan or Hong Kong, focusing on Chinese women using traditional Chinese cooking methods. All three found a dose/response correlation between exposure to cooking fumes and the risk of developing LCINS.Chen
conclusionsThis review of three studies found a possible association between exposure to cooking fumes and the risk of developing LCINS in high-income settings. This corroborates the substantial body of evidence that links cooking fume exposure to LCINS in LMICs, with definitive confirmation of the exposure hazards. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42024524445.
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.