open access
Non-smoking lung cancer and environmental exposure


- Research and Training Branch, Center for Global Health, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, United States
open access
Abstract
While lung cancer mortality has been decreasing in many countries due to tobacco control efforts, at least one quarter of global lung cancer cases occur among non-smokers. There is growing attention to the role of environmental exposures, such as radon and air pollution, in lung cancer. Additionally, recent research efforts have sought to elucidate the distinct characteristics of and mechanisms involved in lung cancer among never smokers. Continued research on non-smoking lung cancer is critical to identifying new opportunities for intervention and addressing the global burden of lung cancer.
Abstract
While lung cancer mortality has been decreasing in many countries due to tobacco control efforts, at least one quarter of global lung cancer cases occur among non-smokers. There is growing attention to the role of environmental exposures, such as radon and air pollution, in lung cancer. Additionally, recent research efforts have sought to elucidate the distinct characteristics of and mechanisms involved in lung cancer among never smokers. Continued research on non-smoking lung cancer is critical to identifying new opportunities for intervention and addressing the global burden of lung cancer.
Keywords
lung cancer; air pollution; prevention


Title
Non-smoking lung cancer and environmental exposure
Journal
Nowotwory. Journal of Oncology
Issue
Article type
Review paper
Published online
2023-03-15
Page views
10
Article views/downloads
13
DOI
10.5603/NJO.a2023.0012
Keywords
lung cancer
air pollution
prevention
Authors
Mark Parascandola


- Thun M, Peto R, Boreham J, et al. Stages of the cigarette epidemic on entering its second century. Tob Control. 2012; 21(2): 96–101.
- Zatonski WA, Zatonski M. Poland’s rapid lung cancer decline in the years 1990¬2016: The first steps towards the eradication of lung cancer in Poland. Health Prob Civil. 2017; 11: 211–225.
- Zatoński WA, Sulkowska U, Didkowska J. Cancer epidemiology in Poland. NOWOTWORY Journal of Oncology. 2015; 65(3): 179–196.
- Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, et al. Global Cancer Statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2021; 71(3): 209–249.
- National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (US) Office on Smoking and Health. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US), Atlanta (GA) 2014.
- Zheng W, McLerran DF, Rolland BA, et al. Burden of total and cause-specific mortality related to tobacco smoking among adults aged ≥ 45 years in Asia: a pooled analysis of 21 cohorts. PLoS Med. 2014; 11(4): e1001631.
- Begley S. ‘But I never smoked’: A growing share of lung cancer cases is turning up in an unexpected population. Stat. Jan. 26, 2021. https://www.statnews.com/2021/01/26/growing-share-of-lung-cancer-turning-up-in-never-smokers/.
- https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/radon-effecting-change-women-spurred-revised-laws-pennsylvania/.
- Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, et al. Global Cancer Statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2021; 71(3): 209–249.
- Zheng W, McLerran DF, Rolland BA, et al. Burden of total and cause-specific mortality related to tobacco smoking among adults aged ≥ 45 years in Asia: a pooled analysis of 21 cohorts. PLoS Med. 2014; 11(4): e1001631.
- Liu X, Yu Y, Wang M, et al. The mortality of lung cancer attributable to smoking among adults in China and the United States during 1990-2017. Cancer Commun (Lond). 2020; 40(11): 611–619.
- Greenberg M, Selikoff IJ. Lung cancer in the Schneeberg mines: a reappraisal of the data reported by Harting and Hesse in 1879. Ann Occup Hyg. 1993; 37(1): 5–14.
- DOLL R, HILL AB. Smoking and carcinoma of the lung; preliminary report. Br Med J. 1950; 2(4682): 739–748.
- Motor Vehicles, Air Pollution and Health. A Report of the Surgeon General to the U.S. Congress. Volume 1: Summary – A Review of the Problem. U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Public Health Service, Division of Air Pollution, Washington DC 1962.
- Motor Vehicles, Air Pollution and HU.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. PHS Publication No. 1103. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, Center for Disease Control, Washington DC 1964.
- American Cancer Society. Known and Probably Carcinogens. https://www.cancer.org/healthy/cancer-causes/general-info/known-and-probable-human-carcinogens.html (08.07.2022).
- Outdoor Air Pollution. IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans Volume 109. IARC 2015.
- Turner MC, Andersen ZJ, Baccarelli A, et al. Outdoor air pollution and cancer: An overview of the current evidence and public health recommendations. CA Cancer J Clin. 2020 [Epub ahead of print].
- Hamra GB, Laden F, Cohen AJ, et al. Outdoor particulate matter exposure and lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Environ Health Perspect. 2014; 122(9): 906–911.
- Huang F, Pan B, Wu J, et al. Relationship between exposure to PM2.5 and lung cancer incidence and mortality: A meta-analysis. Oncotarget. 2017; 8(26): 43322–43331.
- Darby S, Hill D, Auvinen A, et al. Radon in homes and risk of lung cancer: collaborative analysis of individual data from 13 European case-control studies. BMJ. 2005; 330(7485): 223.
- Selikoff IJ, Hammond EC, Churg J. Asbestos Exposure, Smoking, and Neoplasia. JAMA. 1968; 204(2): 106–112.
- Hiatt RA, Beyeler N, Hiatt RA, et al. Cancer and climate change. Lancet Oncol. 2020; 21(11): e519–e527.
- Thun MJ, Hannan LM, Adams-Campbell LL, et al. Lung cancer occurrence in never-smokers: an analysis of 13 cohorts and 22 cancer registry studies. PLoS Med. 2008; 5(9): e185.
- Couraud S, Souquet PJ, Paris C, et al. French Cooperative Intergroup IFCT. BioCAST/IFCT-1002: epidemiological and molecular features of lung cancer in never-smokers. Eur Respir J. 2015; 45(5): 1403–1414.
- Chen W, Zheng R, Baade PD, et al. Cancer statistics in China, 2015. CA Cancer J Clin. 2016; 66(2): 115–132.