Exposure to outdoor air pollution (OAP) has been associated with increased risk for blood cancers including multiple myeloma. Studies using county- and state-level data on multiple myeloma risk from OAP exposure have been inconclusive.

In research published online on July 7 in Blood Cancer Journal, Aditi Shastri, M.B.B.S., H. Dean Hosgood, Ph.D., and colleagues used “hyperlocal exposure assessment” involving geocoded patient addresses on more than 1,500 patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma at Montefiore Health System between 1997-2018. Long-term exposure to fine particles above levels considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was associated with a trend towards worse survival in patients with multiple myeloma. The methodology used in this research is being used to study environmental exposures and health-outcomes of other cancers and chronic diseases. The findings from the study add support for oncologists and public health professionals to consider environmental exposure as a contributing factor in blood cancer outcomes, potentially influencing patient risk assessments or treatment follow-up strategies.

Dr. Shastri is associate professor of oncology, of medicine and of developmental & molecular biology at Einstein and a member of the Stem Cell and Cancer Biology Research Program and associate director of Translational Research in the Blood Cancer Institute at the National Cancer Institute-designated Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center (MECCC). Dr. Hosgood is professor and the Atran Foundation Chair of epidemiology & population health, associate director of population sciences of the MECCC, and co-leader of the Cancer Epidemiology Prevention & Control Program of the MECCC. The co-first authors of the study are Michael Wysota, M.D., a former fellow of oncology at Einstein and Kith Pradhan, Ph.D., an assistant professor of epidemiology & population health at Einstein.