A systematic review of spatial and temporal epidemiological approaches, focus on lung cancer risk associated with particulate matter

Background: Particulate matter (PM), including the major risk factor for lung cancer (LC), greatly impacts human health. Although numerous studies have highlighted spatiotemporal patterns and PM-LC associations, these studies have not been well-reviewed. Thus, we examined epidemiological studies linked with PM-LC and provided concise, up-to-date data.

Methods: We used certain keywords to review articles published in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar until 30th June 2024 and identified 1474 research articles. We then filtered the research articles based on our criteria and ultimately dropped down to 30 for this review.

Results: Out of the thirty reviewed studies on the PM-LC relation, twenty-four focused on PM_2.5, four on PM₁₀, and two on both, indicating that approximately 80% of the respondents were inclined toward fine particles and their health impacts. The study revealed that 22 studies used visualization, 12 used exploration, and 15 used modeling methods. A strong positive relationship was reported between LC and PM_2.5, ranging from 1.04 to 1.60 (95% CI) for a 10 µg/m³ increase in PM_2.5 exposure. However, compared to PM_2.5, PM₁₀ was found to have a significantly less positive association.

Conclusions: Very few studies have used advanced spatiotemporal methods to examine the association between LC and PM. Advanced spatiotemporal analysis techniques should be employed to explore this association in specific geographical locations. Further research should utilize spatiotemporal epidemiological approaches to study the link between PM and lung cancer.