Researchers linked daily PM2.5 concentrations to daily cancer deaths in all 47 Japanese prefectures between 2013 and 2022, using prefecture-specific conditional quasi-Poisson models pooled by random-effects meta-analysis. A 10 microgram per cubic metre increase in PM2.5 over lag 0-2 days was associated with a 0.88% increase in all-cancer mortality (95% CI 0.57-1.18), with similar estimates by sex, age and primary site and the largest for breast cancer (2.06%). The association attenuated to non-significance at longer lags and after adjustment for either NO2 or SO2.
Why it is interesting: Extends acute air-pollution mortality associations to cancer deaths, with an estimate that does not survive adjustment for co-pollutants.