Ecological Study on Thyroid Cancer Incidence and Mortality in Association with European Union Member States’ Air Pollution

Evanthia Giannoula, Christos Melidis, Savvas Frangos, Nikitas Papadopoulos, Georgia Koutsouki and Ioannis Iakovou
Additional contact information
Evanthia Giannoula: Second Academic Nuclear Medicine Department, Academic General Hospital of Thessaloniki “AHEPA”, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Kiriakidi 1 St, 546 21 Thessaloniki, Greece
Christos Melidis: Radiation Therapy Department, CAP Santé, 13 Rue Marcel Paul, 20200 Bastia, France
Savvas Frangos: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Bank of Cyprus Oncology Centre, 32 Acropoleos Avenue, Strovolos, Nicosia 2006, Cyprus
Nikitas Papadopoulos: General Hospital of Thessaloniki “Georgios Gennimatas”, Ethnikis Aminis 41 St, 546 35 Thessaloniki, Greece
Georgia Koutsouki: Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 4124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Ioannis Iakovou: Second Academic Nuclear Medicine Department, Academic General Hospital of Thessaloniki “AHEPA”, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Kiriakidi 1 St, 546 21 Thessaloniki, Greece

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 18, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Over the last few decades, thyroid cancer incidence has had a significant increase. Despite well-known genetic and epigenetic factors (radiation, overdiagnosis, already existing benign thyroid tumors), the effect of air pollution on its incidence and mortality has not yet been fully elucidated. In this study, air pollution data from 27 EU member states is used in order to analyze its association with thyroid cancer incidence, and mortality and socioeconomic factors are examined as confounders. This ecological study used age standardized thyroid cancer incidence and mortality rates per 100,000 people for the year 2012 from 27 EU member states, collected from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organization and European Cancer. Data regarding mean air pollutant mass concentrations for 1992, 2002 and 2012 was collected from the European Environment Agency. Data analysis was carried out using Prism 5.0 and SPSS v.20. Multiple regression analysis showed a statistically significant positive association between thyroid cancer incidence in men and the environmental 2012 masse of Benzo (k) Fluoranthene (r 2 = 0.2142, p = 0.042) and HexaChlorocycloHexane (r 2 = 0.9993, p = 0.0166). Additionally, a statistically significant positive association was observed between the thyroid cancer mortality rate in men and the 1992 environmental concentrations of Hg (r 2 = 0.1704, p = 0.043). Data indicates that some air pollutants may have an effect on increased thyroid cancer incidence and mortality, at least in men. However, causal relationships cannot be fully supported via ecological studies, and this article only focuses on the EU and uses only three distinct time periods.

Keywords: thyroid cancer; air pollution; ecological study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2020:i:1:p:153-:d:469295

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