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Transportation noise and risk for colorectal cancer: a nationwide study covering Denmark

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Abstract

Purpose

Few studies have suggested that traffic noise is a risk factor for cancer, but evidence is inconclusive. We aimed to investigate whether road traffic and railway noise are associated with risk of colorectal cancer.

Methods

We obtained address history for all 3.5 million people above 40 years of age and living in Denmark for the period 1990–2017 and estimated road traffic and railway noise (Lden) at the most and least exposed facades of all addresses as well as air pollution (PM2.5). During follow-up (2000–2017), 35,881 persons developed colon cancer and 19,755 developed rectal cancer. Information on individual and area-level demographic and socioeconomic variables was collected from Danish registries. We analyzed data using Cox proportional hazards models, including traffic noise as time-varying 10-year average exposure.

Results

Exposure to road traffic noise at the most exposed façade was associated with an incidence rate ratio and 95% confidence interval for proximal colon cancer of 1.018 (0.999–1.038) per 10 dB higher noise. We observed no associations for road traffic noise at the least exposed façade or for railway noise in relation to proximal colon cancer. Also, we found no association between road traffic or railway noise and risk for distal colon cancer or rectal cancer.

Conclusion

Traffic noise did not seem associated with higher risk for colorectal cancer, although the suggestion of a slightly higher risk of proximal colon cancer following exposure to road traffic noise warrants further research.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from Statistics Denmark (and only at a secure server at Statistics Denmark). However, restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study and so are not publicly available. Access to data requires permission from Statistics Denmark and the Danish Cancer Society.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Independent Research Fund Denmark [Grant number 7016-00036B].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Diet, Genes and Environment, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Strandboulevarden 49, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Mette Sørensen, Aslak Harbo Poulsen, Jesse Thacher, Ulla Arthur Hvidtfeldt & Ole Raaschou-Nielsen

  2. Department of Natural Science and Environment, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark

    Mette Sørensen

  3. Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark

    Matthias Ketzel, Camilla Geels, Steen Solvang Jensen, Victor H. Valencia & Ole Raaschou-Nielsen

  4. Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Matthias Ketzel

Authors
  1. Mette Sørensen
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  2. Aslak Harbo Poulsen
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  3. Jesse Thacher
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  4. Ulla Arthur Hvidtfeldt
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  9. Ole Raaschou-Nielsen
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Contributions

Conception and design: MS. Secure funding: MS and ORN. Analyses: MS. Acquisition of data: MS, AHP, JT, and UAH (noise and SES confounders), MK, CG, and SSJ (air pollution), and VHV (green space). Drafting manuscript: MS. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the results and provided critical feedback to the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mette Sørensen.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The present study is strictly register based with no contact to the participants. According to Danish legislation no ethical permission or informed consent is needed for strictly register-based studies.

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Sørensen, M., Poulsen, A.H., Thacher, J. et al. Transportation noise and risk for colorectal cancer: a nationwide study covering Denmark. Cancer Causes Control 32, 1447–1455 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-021-01492-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-021-01492-4

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