Rising lung cancer rate due to air pollution
The disease also affects groups not normally at risk, like women and non-smokers. This “might be related to the long-term exposure to air pollution, particularly PM2.5,” said Xue Qi, deputy director of thoracic surgery at the Cancer Hospital Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. In 2015, nearly 4.3 million new cancer patients were recorded, more than 730,000 of them with lung cancer, almost 36 per cent of the world's total. In 50 years, the lung cancer rate rose tenfold.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Chinese health authorities are trying to figure out the reason for the rapid rise in a form of lung cancer that develops deep in the lung and is not associated with smoking.
China has seen a sharp increase in the disease over the past 10 to 15 years, hitting groups traditionally not susceptible such as women and non-smokers, said deputy director Xe Qi of thoracic surgery at the Cancer Hospital Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, also the country's National Cancer Institute.
"It might be related to the long-term exposure to air pollution, particularly PM2.5," he said, referring to particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less.
China's top health authority has been watching people's health in relation to air pollution since 2013, said the National Health and Family Planning Commission spokesman Mao Qun'an.
"We need more research over a longer time to figure out the long-term health effects of air pollution," he said. "Cancer is developed over a long period, not overnight."
Latest cancer statistics from the government showed China recorded nearly 4.3 million new cancer patients in 2015, and more than 730,000 of them had lung cancer, accounting for nearly 36 per cent of the world's total.
There are two major types of lung cancer – lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. The latter is closely associated with smoking.
Of newly detected lung cancer patients each year, the cases of adenocarcinoma - involving more females and non-smokers have exceeded that of smoking-related carcinoma, even though the smoking rate in China has not declined, Xue said, citing figures from the nation's cancer registry.
Ten to 15 years ago, squamous cell carcinoma took the lion's share of all lung cancer cases, roughly 60 per cent, he said. "At that time, most of the sufferers were smoking males, who are at high risk."
The incidence of lung cancer has surged in recent decades.
For instance, in the 1960s, the incidence of lung cancer in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, stood at seven per 100,000 people. That surged to 70 per 100,000 in 2005, according to local health data.
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