Use of Cooking Fuels that Produce Air Pollution Correlates with Increased Cancer Risk
There is plenty of evidence for particulate air pollution to raise mortality. A range of interesting natural experiments in which similar populations are exposed to greater or lesser particulate air pollution demonstrate that the groups with greater particulate exposure have increased risk of mortality and age-related disease. The mechanism likely involves an increase in chronic inflammation produced by particulates in lung tissue. All of the common age-related conditions are accelerated by sustained inflammatory signaling.
When cooking with biomass and fossil fuels, their incomplete burning can lead to air pollution, which can trigger pernicious effects on people's health, especially among the elderly, who are more vulnerable to toxic and harmful environmental damage. This study explored the association between different cooking fuel types and the risk of cancer and all-cause mortality among seniors constructing Cox regression models. Data were obtained by linking waves of 6, 7, and 8 of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, which included a total of 7,269 participants who were 65 years old and over. Cooking fuels were categorized as either biomass, fossil, or clean fuels. And the effects of switching cooking fuels on death risk were also investigated using Cox regression models.
The results indicate that, compared with the users of clean fuels, individuals using biomass or fossil fuels were at a greater death risk for cancer [hazard ratios: biomass, 1.13; fossil, 1.16] and all causes [hazard ratios: biomass, 1.29; fossil, 1.32]. Furthermore, compared with sustained users of biomass fuels, individuals converting from biomass to clean fuels significantly reduced death risk for cancer [hazard ratio: 0.81] and all causes [hazard ratio: 0.76]. Similarly, all-cause death risk [hazard ratios: 0.77] was noticeably reduced among these participants converting from fossil to clean fuels than persistent users of fossil fuels.