Correlation between Coarse Airborne Particulate Matter and Mortality Rates of Malignant Neoplasm

Article information

Korean J Health Promot. 2016;16(4):215-222

Publication date (electronic) : 2016 January 20

doi : https://doi.org/10.15384/kjhp.2016.16.4.215

Kyung-Ho Park , Ji-Hyun Kim ^,, Hong-Sun Yoon , In-Hwa Kim , In-Mok Choi , Je-Young Lee , Mi-Kyeong Ju

Department of Family Medicine, BHS Hanseo Hospital, Busan, Korea

Corresponding author: Ji-Hyun Kim, MD Department of Family Medicine, BHS Hanseo Hospital, 615 Suyeong-ro, Suyeong-gu, Busan 48253, Korea Tel: +82-70-7321-0270, Fax: +82-51-751-4372 E-mail: kjh77960@hanmail.net

Received 2016 September 13; Accepted 2016 October 17.

Abstract

Background

There have been growing interests in harmful effects of dust particles on human health. It has been reported that dust particles negatively affected respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Relationship of dust particles and lung cancer incidence was also investigated. However, there is a lack of studies regarding the relationship between dust particles and cancers except for lung cancer. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the relationship of dust particle concentration and cancer mortality in Korea.

Methods

Average concentration of coarse dust particles (particulate matter 10, PM₁₀) of 2008–2014 were obtained from AirKorea website and cancer mortality was found in Statistics Korea for 2008–2014. Correlation analyses using PM₁₀ and cancer mortality were performed. Age-adjusted death rate (AADR) was used for correlation analysis because a number of death and mortality rate do not reflect population and age of death. Regional annual PM₁₀ was matched with AADR of identical area. Correlation between two variables was presented in scatter plots and Pearson's correlation analysis was performed.

Results

PM₁₀ concentration was positively correlated with AADR of malignant neoplasm, lung cancer, stomach cancer, colon cancer, uterus cancer, and leukemia. PM₁₀ concentration was significantly correlated with AADR of malignant neoplasm (r=0.247, P=0.009), lung cancer (r=0.277, P=0.003), stomach cancer (r=0.434, P=0.000), colon cancer (r=0.377, P=0.000), and uterus cancer (r=0.226, P=0.017).

Conclusion

This study suggested that cancer patients or high-risk group for cancer should pay attention to PM₁₀ concentration. Large-scale studies should investigate the relationship of PM₁₀ concentration and cancer incidence including cancer mortality to extend understanding of this cross-section study.

Keywords: Airborne particulate matter; Concentration; Cancer; Mortality; Correlation study

Figure 1.

Changes in annual average of coarse particles (particulate matter 10: particles whose aerodynamic diameters are less than or equal to 10 µm).

Figure 2.

Pearson's correlation analysis of PM₁₀ (particulate matter 10: particles whose aerodynamic diameters are less than or equal to 10 µm) concentrationand age adjusted death rates of malignant neoplasms, lung cancer, stomach cancer, colon cancer, uterus cancer, and leukemia.

Table 1.

Number of death, death rate, age adjusted death rate of cancer^a

Table 2.

Kendall's tau-b correlation coefficient of PM₁₀ (particulate matter 10: particles whose aerodynamic diameters are less han or equal to 10 µm)concentrationand age adjusted death rates of cancer in regions of South Korea from 2008 to 2014

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This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Figure 1.

Changes in annual average of coarse particles (particulate matter 10: particles whose aerodynamic diameters are less than or equal to 10 µm).

Figure 2.

Table 1.

Number of death, death rate, age adjusted death rate of cancer^a

	Year	Number of regions	Number of death	Death rate^b	Age adjusted death rate^c
Malignant	2008	16	4307.0±3343.9	150.8±35.0	126.7±8.8
neoplasms	2009	16	4361.2±3424.8	151.8±35.0	122.7±9.2
	2010	16	4503.0±3572.5	156.7±36.5	121.1±6.1
	2011	16	4473.7±3572.6	154.6±34.6	115.3±6.0
	2012	16	4596.5±3707.0	158.5±34.8	113.6±5.1
	2013	16	4694.4±3837.7	160.7±32.3	110.6±4.8
	2014	16	4773.6±3893.9	162.7±35.3	107.2±5.3
	Total	112	4529.9±3530.8	156.5±34.1	116.7±9.2
Lung cancer	2008	16	924.4±691.3	32.8±9.9	26.8±3.1
	2009	16	932.4±684.1	33.1±10.4	25.9±3.3
	2010	16	976.6±726.7	34.6±9.7	26.1±2.4
	2011	16	991.7±761.1	35.0±9.8	25.1±2.0
	2012	16	1037.5±797.8	36.3±10.0	25.1±2.2
	2013	16	1070.3±816.4	37.7±9.3	24.9±1.7
	2014	16	1086.6±836.9	37.6±10.2	23.9±2.2
	Total	112	1002.8±742.8	35.3±9.8	25.4±2.6
Stomach cancer	2008	16	644.5±484.1	22.8±5.7	19.2±2.2
	2009	16	633.4±485.6	22.1±5.7	17.7±1.9
	2010	16	626.9±489.0	22.0±5.6	16.9±1.7
	2011	16	607.4±469.1	21.1±5.3	15.7±2.0
	2012	16	581.7±463.9	20.0±5.2	14.2±1.8
	2013	16	571.9±460.3	19.6±4.4	13.5±1.3
	2014	16	554.8±431.7	19.2±4.6	12.6±1.1
	Total	112	602.9±457.7	21.0±5.3	15.7±2.8
Colon cancer	2008	16	428.4±353.0	14.9±2.8	12.6±1.4
	2009	16	444.1±381.0	15.0±3.1	12.2±1.4
	2010	16	481.3±418.0	16.1±3.5	12.3±1.5
	2011	16	482.6±407.5	16.4±3.3	12.1±1.3
	2012	16	511.1±432.8	17.4±3.7	12.1±0.8
	2013	16	515.3±442.5	17.5±3.5	11.8±1.0
	2014	16	523.3±441.7	17.7±3.7	11.3±1.2
	Total	112	483.7±402.2	16.4±3.5	12.1±1.3
Uterus cancer	2008	16	78.8±68.5	2.7±0.5	2.3±0.3
	2009	16	78.6±66.3	2.6±0.6	2.2±0.5
	2010	16	79.5±74.3	2.6±0.5	2.1±0.4
	2011	16	80.9±68.3	2.7±0.6	2.1±0.3
	2012	16	75.9±69.3	2.6±0.4	2.0±0.4
	2013	16	76.8±71.5	2.5±0.6	1.8±0.3
	2014	16	80.9±74.0	2.7±0.5	2.0±0.3
	Total	112	78.8±68.5	2.6±0.5	2.1±0.4
Leukemia	2008	16	94.2±82.0	3.2±0.7	2.9±0.4
	2009	16	96.4±87.5	3.2±0.7	2.8±0.5
	Total	32	95.3±83.4	3.2±0.7	2.8±0.5

Values are means±standard deviation.

Per 100,000.

Per standardized population100,000.

Table 2.

	Malignant		Lung		Stomach		Colon		Liver		Uterus		Meninges and brain		Esophagus		Breast		Prostate		Pancreas
	neoplasm		cancer		cancer		cancer		cancer		cancer		cancer		cancer		cancer		cancer		cancer
	CC^a	P	CC^a	P	CC^a	P	CC^a	P	CC^a	P	CC^a	P	CC^a	P	CC^a	P	CC^a	P	CC^a	P	CC^a	P
Seoul	0.810^b	0.011	–0.048	0.881	0.714^b	0.024	0.429	0.176	0.905^b	0.004	0.350	0.282	0.169	0.622	0.126	0.724	–0.050	0.878	0.050	0.878	–0.429	0.176
Busan	0.514	0.117	0.206	0.530	0.514	0.117	–0.053	0.874	0.514	0.117	0.649	0.055	0.264	0.428	–0.433	0.200	0.252	0.480	0.114	0.741	–0.206	0.530
Daegu	0.781^b	0.015	0.586	0.068	0.781^b	0.015	0.488	0.129	0.450	0.167	0.250	0.442	–0.616	0.062	–0.369	0.267	–0.098	0.761	–0.410	0.214	–0.250	0.442
Daejeon	0.586	0.068	0.685^b	0.041	0.488	0.129	0.650^b	0.046	0.195	0.543	0.350	0.282	–0.103	0.756	0.050	0.878	0.150	0.645	0.100	0.759	–0.195	0.543
Gwangju	0.810^b	0.011	0.000	1.000	0.781^b	0.015	–0.206	0.530	0.524	0.099	0.098	0.761	0.150	0.645	0.150	0.645	–0.350	0.282	–0.250	0.442	–0.143	0.652
Incheon	0.683^b	0.033	0.586	0.068	0.586	0.068	0.098	0.761	0.550	0.091	0.564	0.087	0.158	0.634	–0.205	0.534	–0.293	0.362	0.150	0.645	–0.150	0.645
Ulsan	0.651^b	0.046	0.651^b	0.046	0.951^b	0.003	0.851^b	0.009	0.651^b	0.046	0.108	0.751	0.158	0.637	0.308	0.351	0.053	0.875	0.053	0.875	0.250	0.442
Chungcheongnam-do	0.683^b	0.033	0.488	0.129	0.878^b	0.006	0.390	0.224	0.781^b	0.015	0.000	1.000	–0.256	0.437	0.154	0.641	–0.450	0.167	0.150	0.645	–0.250	0.442
Chungcheongbuk-do	0.451	0.167	0.410	0.214	0.551	0.091	0.718^b	0.030	0.551	0.091	–0.050	0.878	–0.053	0.875	0.308	0.351	0.000	1.000	–0.410	0.214	0.150	0.645
Gangwon-do	0.451	0.167	–0.050	0.878	0.451	0.167	–0.513	0.120	0.551	0.091	0.462	0.162	0.000	1.000	0.000	1.000	–0.103	0.756	–0.223	0.517	0.308	0.351
Gyeonggi-do	0.751^b	0.021	0.551	0.091	0.751^b	0.021	0.433	0.200	0.651^b	0.046	0.632	0.059	0.237	0.502	0.723^b	0.035	–0.263	0.432	0.178	0.608	–0.501	0.145
Gyeongsangnam-do	–0.053	0.874	–0.159	0.634	–0.053	0.874	–0.159	0.634	–0.053	0.874	–0.053	0.874	0.325	0.336	–0.217	0.521	0.000	1.000	0.457	0.190	0.651	0.054
Gyeongsangbuk-do	0.195	0.543	0.098	0.761	0.195	0.543	–0.205	0.534	0.050	0.878	–0.050	0.878	–0.308	0.351	0.308	0.351	0.195	0.543	0.450	0.167	0.350	0.282
Jeju-do	0.000	1.000	–0.150	0.645	0.683^b	0.033	–0.195	0.543	0.390	0.224	–0.154	0.641	–0.350	0.282	–0.158	0.634	–0.350	0.282	–0.350	0.282	–0.050	0.878
Jeollabuk-do	0.619	0.051	0.810^b	0.011	0.714^b	0.024	–0.524	0.099	0.619	0.051	0.514	0.117	–0.411	0.210	0.651^b	0.046	–0.150	0.645	–0.429	0.176	–0.048	0.881
Jeollanam-do	0.053	0.874	0.265	0.427	0.265	0.427	0.108	0.748	0.108	0.748	–0.294	0.403	–0.217	0.521	0.250	0.481	–0.217	0.521	0.217	0.521	–0.171	0.620

Kendall's tau-b (τb) correlation coefficient.

Statistically significant correlation.