Interactions between cigarette smoking and fine particulate matter in the risk of lung cancer mortality in cancer prevention study II

Abstract

The International Agency for Research on Cancer recently classified outdoor air pollution and airborne particulate matter as carcinogenic to humans. However, there are gaps in the epidemiologic literature, including assessment of possible joint effects of cigarette smoking and fine particulate matter (particulate matter less than or equal to 2.5 μm in diameter) on lung cancer risk. We present estimates of interaction on the additive scale between these risk factors from Cancer Prevention Study II, a large prospective US cohort study of nearly 1.2 million participants recruited in 1982. Estimates of the relative excess risk of lung cancer mortality due to interaction, the attributable proportion due to interaction, and the synergy index were 2.19 (95% confidence interval (CI): -0.10, 4.83), 0.14 (95% CI: 0.00, 0.25), and 1.17 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.37), respectively, using the 25th and 75th percentiles as cutpoints for fine particulate matter. This suggests small increases in lung cancer risk among persons with both exposures beyond what would be expected from the sum of the effects of the individual exposures alone. Although reductions in cigarette smoking will achieve the greatest impact on lung cancer rates, these results suggest that attempted reductions in lung cancer risk through both tobacco control and air quality management may exceed expectations based on reducing exposure to either risk factor alone.