A recent study revealed that people who breathe in more air pollution have an increased risk of developing a common non-cancerous brain tumour.
According to research published in the journal Neurology, multiple kinds of air pollutants, including particle pollution and nitrogen dioxide, seem to raise the risk of meningiomas.
Meningiomas are tumours that develop in the layers of tissue covering the brain and spinal cord.
More than 170,000 people a year are diagnosed with meningioma in the United States, with symptoms including headaches, dizziness, nausea, vision changes, and more, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
However, it can be treated with radiation therapy, and surgery.
For the study, researchers analysed up to four million adults in Denmark over a 21-year period.
Results indicated that individuals with maximum exposure to air pollution had triple the rate of meningioma than those with the least exposure.
Further, the risk continued to rise with increasing exposure to several air pollutants.
Likewise, they had a:
- 12% raised risk for every 8.3 Ug/m3 increase in nitrogen dioxide.
- 10% increased risk for a spike of 5,747 particles/cm3 for ultrafine particles less than 0.1 micrometers in diameter.
- 3% increased risk for every 0.4 Ug/m3 increase in airborne carbon.
However, researchers did not find any strong association between air pollutants and malignant brain tumours.
Lead researcher and senior scientist at the Danish Cancer Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, Ulla Hvidtfeldt, stated:
“While research on the health effects of ultrafine particles is still in its early stages, these findings point to a possible link between traffic-related ultrafine particle exposure and the development of meningioma.”
Researchers stressed the need for further studies, as the research failed to prove a direct cause-and-effect link between the air pollutants and meningioma, only a link.
