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A Regional Study to Evaluate the Impact of Coal-fired Power Plants on Lung Cancer Incident Rates - PubMed

  • ️Fri Jun 06 2025

doi: 10.1080/28322134.2024.2348469. Epub 2024 Jun 6.

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A Regional Study to Evaluate the Impact of Coal-fired Power Plants on Lung Cancer Incident Rates

Oluwatobiloba Ige et al. Prev Oncol Epidemiol. 2024.

Abstract

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related deaths. In Kansas, where coal-fired power plants account for 34% of power, we investigated whether hosting counties had higher age-adjusted lung cancer incidence rates. We also examined demographics, poverty levels, percentage of smokers, and environmental conditions using spatial analysis.

Methods: Data from the Kansas Health Matters, and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (2010-2014) for 105 counties in Kansas were analyzed. Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) assessed associations between potential risk factors and age-adjusted lung cancer incidence rates while Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) examined regional risk factors.

Results: Moran's I test confirmed spatial autocorrelation in age-adjusted lung cancer incidence rates (p<0.0003). MLR identified percentage of smokers, population size, and proportion of elderly population as significant predictors of age-adjusted lung cancer incidence rates (p<0.05). GWR showed positive associations between percentage of smokers and age-adjusted lung cancer incidence rates in over 50% of counties.

Conclusion: Contrary to our hypothesis, proximity to a coal-fired power plant was not a significant predictor of age-adjusted lung cancer incidence rates. Instead, percentage of smokers emerged as a consistent global and regional risk factor. Regional lung cancer outcomes in Kansas are influenced by wind patterns and elderly population.

Keywords: Coal-fired power plant; Lung Cancer; environmental factors; public health; spatial analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

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