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Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and incidence of brain tumor: the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE)

Andersen ZJ 1 , Pedersen M 1 , Weinmayr G 2 , Stafoggia M 3 , Galassi C 4 , Jørgensen JT 1 Show all authors , Sommar JN 5 , Forsberg B 5 , Olsson D 5 , Oftedal B 6 , Aasvang GM 6 , Schwarze P 6 , Pyko A 7 , Pershagen G 7 , Korek M 7 , Faire U 7 , Östenson CG 8 , Fratiglioni L 9 , Eriksen KT 7 , Poulsen AH 10 , Tjønneland A 10 , Bräuner EV 11 , Peeters PH 12 , Bueno-de-Mesquita B 13 , Jaensch A 2 , Nagel G 2 , Lang A 14 , Wang M 15 , Tsai MY 15 , Grioni S 16 , Marcon A 17 , Krogh V 16 , Ricceri F 4 , Sacerdote C 4 , Migliore E 4 , Vermeulen R 12 , Sokhi R 18 , Keuken M 7 , de Hoogh K 19 , Beelen R 20 , Vineis P 13 , Cesaroni G 3 , Brunekreef B 12 , Hoek G 20 , Raaschou-Nielsen O 10

Affiliations 

  • 1 Center for Epidemiology and Screening, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 2 Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
  • 3 Department of Epidemiology, Lazio Regional Health Service, Local Health Unit ASL RM1, Rome, Italy
  • 4 Unit of Cancer Epidemiology, Città della Salute e della Scienza University-Hospital and Center for Cancer Prevention (CPO), Turin, Italy
  • 5 Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
  • 6 Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
  • 7 Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
  • 8 Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
  • 9 Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology Care Science and Society, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
  • 10 The Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 11 Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Bispebjerg-Frederiksberg Hospital, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 12 Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Netherlands
  • 13 MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College, London, UK
  • 14 Vorarlberg Cancer Registry, Bregenz, Austria
  • 15 Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
  • 16 Epidemiology and Prevention Unit, Department of Preventive and Predictive Medicine, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy
  • 17 Unit of Epidemiology & Medical Statistics, Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
  • 18 Centre for Atmospheric and Instrumentation Research, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, UK
  • 19 Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
  • 20 Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
Neuro-oncology, 2018 02 19;20(3):420-432.
PMID: 29016987 DOI: 10.1093/neuonc/nox163

Abstract

Background: Epidemiological evidence on the association between ambient air pollution and brain tumor risk is sparse and inconsistent.

Methods: In 12 cohorts from 6 European countries, individual estimates of annual mean air pollution levels at the baseline residence were estimated by standardized land-use regression models developed within the ESCAPE and TRANSPHORM projects: particulate matter (PM) ≤2.5, ≤10, and 2.5-10 μm in diameter (PM2.5, PM10, and PMcoarse), PM2.5 absorbance, nitrogen oxides (NO2 and NOx) and elemental composition of PM. We estimated cohort-specific associations of air pollutant concentrations and traffic intensity with total, malignant, and nonmalignant brain tumor, in separate Cox regression models, adjusting for risk factors, and pooled cohort-specific estimates using random-effects meta-analyses.

Results: Of 282194 subjects from 12 cohorts, 466 developed malignant brain tumors during 12 years of follow-up. Six of the cohorts also had data on nonmalignant brain tumor, where among 106786 subjects, 366 developed brain tumor: 176 nonmalignant and 190 malignant. We found a positive, statistically nonsignificant association between malignant brain tumor and PM2.5 absorbance (hazard ratio and 95% CI: 1.67; 0.89-3.14 per 10-5/m3), and weak positive or null associations with the other pollutants. Hazard ratio for PM2.5 absorbance (1.01; 0.38-2.71 per 10-5/m3) and all other pollutants were lower for nonmalignant than for malignant brain tumors.

Conclusion: We found suggestive evidence of an association between long-term exposure to PM2.5 absorbance indicating traffic-related air pollution and malignant brain tumors, and no association with overall or nonmalignant brain tumors.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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