Cancer Incidence Trends in the Oil Shale Industrial Region in Estonia

Jane Idavain, Katrin Lang, Jelena Tomasova, Aavo Lang and Hans Orru
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Jane Idavain: Institute of Family Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu, Ravila 19, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
Katrin Lang: Institute of Family Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu, Ravila 19, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
Jelena Tomasova: Estonian Health Board, Paldiski mnt 81, 10617 Tallinn, Estonia
Aavo Lang: Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu, Ravila 19, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
Hans Orru: Institute of Family Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu, Ravila 19, 50411 Tartu, Estonia

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-15

Abstract: Large oil shale resources are found in Eastern Estonia, where the mineral resource is mined, excavated, and used for electricity generation and shale oil extraction. During industrial activities in the last 100 years, pollutants have been emitted in large amounts, some of which are toxic and carcinogenic. The current study aims to analyse time trends in cancer incidence in the oil shale industry-affected areas and compare them with overall cancer incidence rates and trends in Estonia. We analysed Estonian Cancer Registry data on selected cancer sites that have been previously indicated to have relationships with industrial activities like oil shale extraction. We included lung cancer, kidney cancer, urinary bladder cancer, leukaemia, breast cancer, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. A statistically significantly higher lung cancer age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) was found during the study period (1992—2015) only in males in the oil shale areas as compared to males in Estonia overall: 133.6 and 95.5 per 100,000, respectively. However, there appeared to be a statistically significant ( p < 0.05) decrease in the lung cancer ASIR in males in the oil shale areas (overall decrease 28.9%), whereas at the same time, there was a significant increase ( p < 0.05) in non-oil shale areas (13.3%) and in Estonia overall (1.5%). Other cancer sites did not show higher ASIRs in the oil shale industrial areas compared to other areas in Estonia. Possible explanations could be improved environmental quality, socio-economic factors, and other morbidities.

Keywords: oil shale; lung cancer; air pollution; occupational health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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