Previous studies of the environment and cancer have focused on etiology, showing that extrinsic factors in the environment contribute to 70% to 90% of cancers. Cancer patients and survivors often continue to live in the same neighborhoods they resided in before their cancer diagnosis. Thus, patients and survivors are exposed to the same environmental contexts that likely contributed to their original cancer, but little is known about the health effects of continued exposure to carcinogens after a cancer diagnosis. This commentary provides a summary of studies of the association between PM2.5 and cancer mortality among patients and PM2.5 and posttreatment morbidity among cancer survivors, and proposes new directions and opportunities for future research on such topics.See all articles in this CEBP Focus section, "Environmental Carcinogenesis: Pathways to Prevention."
©2020 American Association for Cancer Research.