Global health issue - Lung Cancer - Assignment Example

Global health issue - Lung CancerFurther work is required to investigate the impact of outdoor air pollution which is currently on the rise on lung cancer worldwide. Lung cancer in recent past have accounted for approximately to 1.2 million deaths annually worldwide, exceeding death from any known cancer in countries considered developed. The vast majority of the global issue are as a result of tobacco smoking, however environmental causes of lung cancer, such as air pollution, have long been ignored.

Chen et al. (2014) come to a conclusion that cancer is an increasingly emerging health issue in China. Lung cancer alone is the top cancer cause of cancer death and diagnosed currently in China with a rapid increasing trend. This is probably as a result of the current increased a result of increased air pollution in the country due to global warming more than any other country in the world (Chen et al., 2014). This area requires further research for the exposure to various outdoor air pollution has been connected with lesser relative rise in lung cancer in the studies conducted.

The lung cancer epidemic emerging in the mid-1950s in the Europe and US motivated initial research on the risk factors associated with lung cancer in UK as the role of cigarette smoking was increasingly clear. Interest nonetheless in air pollution and other environmental risk factors is wanting. Likewise, case-control studies and recent prospective cohort which have factored tobacco smoking and occupational and various cancer risk factors, have constantly to report upsurges in lung cancer related with air pollution.

In light of the done research, the question is perhaps not “Are some lung cancers caused by air pollution?”, but rather “What are the excess cases likely to be caused? The existing evidence from the research suggests that proper education and awareness of the negative consequences will relatively assist to lessen the possibility and effectively cure the issues related to lung cancer but silent on the specific environment risk factors related to air pollution. Accordingly this is a concern for lung cancer is attributable to air pollution that can occur among both notorious smokers and non-smokers, and thus both effect modification and residual confounding of the air pollution and other environmental relative risk due to smoking must be well-thought-out.

Nafstad et al (2003) report the relative risks of air pollution adjusted for cigarette smoking, but adjustment cannot have organized completely for possible confounding. The authors recognize that their research, like many other cohort research, has information or details on cigarette smoking merely at the start of the follow up period. In this regard, further studies and real time solutions of outdoor air pollution globally and lung cancer in will need to detail concurrent or past exposures to various risk factors, particularly now that there is an increasing trend in the rates of global warming.

This further research thus becomes very important in understanding other related concerns in this global issue such as lung cancer age-specific incidence rates for both genders. Such issues help understand this global issue. ReferencesChen, W., Zheng, R., Zeng, H., & Zhang, S. (2014). Epidemiology of lung cancer in China. Thoracic Cancer. Journal of Cancer Biology & Research, 209-215.Nafstad, P. (2003). Lung Cancer And Air Pollution: A 27 Year Follow Up Of 16 209 Norwegian Men. Thorax, 1071-1076.