The association of long-term concentrations of ambient air pollutants and the incidence of malignant neoplasms in nonsmoking adults

A cohort of 6,338 (M = 2278, F = 4060) nonsmoking non-Hispanic white California adults ages 27--95 was followed from 4/77--4/92 for newly diagnosed cancers. A total of 704 incident nonskin cancers (NSC) were identified. Of these, 36 were lung cancers (M = 16, F = 20).;The primary exposures investigated included exceedance frequencies and mean concentrations of ozone (O3) and particulate matter <10 mum in aerodynamic diameter (PM10) and mean concentrations of: sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and the fine (PM2.5) and coarse (PM10-2.5) fractions of PM10).;For males, the relative risk (RR) of incident lung cancer associated with an interquartile range (IQR) increase of 100 ppb O3 was 3.56 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.35--9.42]. Incident lung cancer in males was also positively associated with IQR increases for mean concentrations of PM10 (RR = 5.21; CI: 1.94--13.99) and SO2 (RR = 2.66; C: 1.62--4.39). The fine fraction (PM2.5) of respirable particulates was more strongly related to lung cancer incidence than was the coarse fraction (PM10-2.5) although the confidence limits overlapped.;For females, lung cancer incidence was positively associated with IQR increases for SO2 (RR = 2.14; CI: 1.36--3.37) and a nonsignificant increased risk with IQR increases for PM10 exceedance frequencies of: 50 mug/m3 (RR = 1.21; CI: 0.55--2.66) and 60 mug/m 3 (RR = 1.25; CI: 0.57--2.71).;For males, the risk of NSC increased with increasing exceedance frequency thresholds of ozone reaching statistical significance with an IQR increase in average annual hours in exceedance of 150 ppb O3 (RR = 1.26; CI: 1.04---1.53). NSC was also associated with IQR increases in mean concentrations of PM10 (RR = 1.18; CI: 1.00--1.39) and SO2 (RR = 1.85; CI: 1.64--2.09).;Similar to males, the risk of NSC in females also increased with increasing exceedance frequency thresholds of ozone reaching statistical significance with an IQR increase in average annual hours in exceedance of 150 ppb of O 3 (RR = 1.33; CI: 1.13--1.56). NSC in females was also associated with IQR increases in mean concentrations of PM10 (R = 1.31; CI: 1.13--1.52) and SO2 (RR = 2.28; CI: 2.07--2.52).;In summary, statistically significant increases in risk was observed for several cancer sites in both males and females associated with long-term ambient measures of gaseous and particulate air pollution.