In Europe, during the past five years, the ESCAPE (European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution) study has been conducted, with the aim of analyzing the chronic effects of air pollution on health.

The study, coordinated by the University of Utrecht, has involved three cities in Italy: Rome, Turin and Varese.

The Department of Epidemiology of the Lazio Regional Health Service has coordinated, as part of the project, studies on cardiovascular outcomes, such as the incidence of acute coronary events and cerebrovascular events, and it has conducted, in Rome and Turin, measurement campaigns of pollutants as well as epidemiological analyses on the SIDRIA cohorts.

The first results, published in Lancet Oncology (http://www.thelancet.com/journals/ lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045 (13) 70279-1/abstract), show that prolonged exposure to air pollution increases the risk of lung cancer, even at levels below the limits set by the European Union, and confirm those already published in the Roman Longitudinal Study (Cesaroni et al. EHP 2013).

The study on the incidence of lung cancer was performed using cohorts of 9 European countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Austria, Spain, Greece and Italy), on more than 300,000 subjects, and showed that for each increase of 5 ?g/m3 of PM2, 5 the risk of lung cancer increases by 18%, and by 22% in every increase of 10 ?g/m3 of PM10.

The results confirm those already published in the Roman Longitudinal Study (Cesaroni et al. EHP 2013), which had shown a higher mortality from lung cancer with the increment of chronic exposure to fine particulates and nitrogen dioxide.

To know more:

• Abstract dello studio
• Studio Longitudinale Romano
• Intervista del PI: Ole Raaschou-Nielsen discusses the association between long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and lung cancer risk. (mp3, 04:38 mins, 4.24Mb)
• Corriere della Sera del 9 luglio 2013
• Progetto ESCAPE