Association between Ambient Particulate Matter 2.5 Exposure and Mortality in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Chern-Horng Lee, Sen-Yung Hsieh, Wen-Hung Huang, I-Kuan Wang and Tzung-Hai Yen
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Chern-Horng Lee: Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou 333, Taiwan
Sen-Yung Hsieh: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou 333, Taiwan
Wen-Hung Huang: College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan
I-Kuan Wang: Department of Nephrology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 404, Taiwan
Tzung-Hai Yen: College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 14, 1-11

Abstract: Air pollution is a severe public health problem in Taiwan. Moreover, Taiwan is an endemic area for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study examined the effect of particulate matter 2.5 (PM 2.5 ) exposure on mortality in this population. A total of 1003 patients with HCC treated at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital between 2000 and 2009 were included in this study. At the end of the analysis, 288 (28.7%) patients had died. Patients with HCC living in environments with PM 2.5 concentrations of ≥36 µg/m 3 had a higher mortality rate than patients living in environments with PM 2.5 concentrations of <36 µg/m 3 (36.8% versus 27.5%, p = 0.034). The multivariate Cox regression analysis confirmed that PM 2.5 ≥ 36 µg/m 3 was a significant risk factor for mortality (1.584 (1.162–2.160), p = 0.004). A nonlinear relationship was observed between the odds ratio and PM 2.5 . The odds ratio was 1.137 (1.015–1.264) for each increment of 5 µg/m 3 in PM 2.5 or 1.292 (1.030–1.598) for each increment of 10 µg/m 3 in PM 2.5 . Therefore, patients with HCC exposed to ambient PM 2.5 concentrations of ≥36 µg/m 3 had a 1.584-fold higher risk of death than those exposed to PM 2.5 concentrations of <36 µg/m 3 . Further studies are warranted.

Keywords: PM 2.5; particulate matter; air pollution; mortality; hepatocellular carcinoma (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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