JERUSALEM, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Israeli researchers found that exposure to transport pollution increases the chance of heart patients to get cancer by over 50 percent, the Israel Cancer Association (ICA) said on Wednesday.
The study was conducted by the Tel Aviv University, located in the center of Israel, and funded by the ICA.
The study found a statistical relationship between chronic exposure to air pollution from transportation and an increase in the risk of several cancers, including breast, lung and prostate cancers, as well as mortality in general among cardiac patients.
The researchers collected information on more than 12,000 cardiac patients from central Israel, who had catheterization in the years from 2004 to 2014.
Using the database of the Israeli Ministry of Health, the researchers found that 300 of the patients got one of the three types of cancer during the catheterization follow-up period. It was also found that about 3,000 of the cardiac patients died.
To increase accuracy, this information was cross-checked with estimates of chronic exposure to transport pollutants, obtained through two advanced mathematical models of the Israel Institute of Technology and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Both models are based on data from dozens of polluting monitoring stations throughout Israel, and take into consideration additional data, such as transport volumes, meteorology and geographic variables.
Using the models, the TAU researchers were able to accurately estimate the level of exposure at each resident to nitrogen oxide (NOx), which is considered a reliable measure of the level of air transport pollution.
The researchers also considered the personal and clinical characteristics of the participants, including smoking and socioeconomic status.
The findings suggest that high exposure to transport-source NOx is associated with a significant increase of up to 1.56 times of the risk of cardiac patients suffering from the three cancers.
