Spatial consistency of co-exposure to air and surface water pollution and cancer in China

Jingmei Jiang (), Luwen Zhang, Zixing Wang, Wentao Gu, Cuihong Yang, Yubing Shen, Jing Zhao, Wei Han, Yaoda Hu, Fang Xue, Wangyue Chen, Xiaobo Guo, Hairong Li, Peng Wu, Yali Chen, Yujie Zhao, Jin Du and Chengyu Jiang ()
Additional contact information
Jingmei Jiang: Peking Union Medical College
Luwen Zhang: Peking Union Medical College
Zixing Wang: Peking Union Medical College
Wentao Gu: Peking Union Medical College
Cuihong Yang: Peking Union Medical College
Yubing Shen: Peking Union Medical College
Jing Zhao: Peking Union Medical College
Wei Han: Peking Union Medical College
Yaoda Hu: Peking Union Medical College
Fang Xue: Peking Union Medical College
Wangyue Chen: Peking Union Medical College
Xiaobo Guo: Peking Union Medical College
Hairong Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Peng Wu: Peking Union Medical College
Yali Chen: Peking Union Medical College
Yujie Zhao: Peking Union Medical College
Jin Du: Peking Union Medical College
Chengyu Jiang: Peking Union Medical College

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Humans can be exposed to multiple pollutants in the air and surface water. These environments are non-static, trans-boundary and correlated, creating a complex network, and significant challenges for research on environmental hazards, especially in real-world cancer research. This article reports on a large study (377 million people in 30 provinces of China) that evaluated the combined impact of air and surface water pollution on cancer. We formulate a spatial evaluation system and a common grading scale for co-pollution measurement, and validate assumptions that air and surface water environments are spatially connected and that cancers of different types tend to cluster in areas where these environments are poorer. We observe “dose–response” relationships in both the number of affected cancer types and the cancer incidence with an increase in degree of co-pollution. We estimate that 62,847 (7.4%) new cases of cancer registered in China in 2016 were attributable to air and surface water pollution, and the majority (69.7%) of these excess cases occurred in areas with the highest level of co-pollution. The findings clearly show that the environment cannot be considered as a set of separate entities. They also support the development of policies for cooperative environmental governance and disease prevention.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52065-3

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