Dr. De Guzman on Unmasking Indoor Pollutants and Lung Cancer Risk

Roselle De Guzman, MD, of the Manila Central University-FDTMF Hospital, joined Lung Cancers Today at the IASLC 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer to discuss her plenary presentation titled “Unmasking Indoor Pollutants and Lung Cancer Risk.”

“Not many people are aware that indoor air pollutants, like those coming from cooking oil fumes, the use of wood burning in fireplaces and stoves, as well as radon gas, asbestos, these are all risk factors for developing lung cancer,” she said.

While it’s “still not very clear as to how much exposure is needed for one to develop lung cancer,” Dr. De Guzman explained that there is evidence showing that these are “indeed risk factors,” as well as secondhand smoke.

“There’s still a great burden of disease secondary to secondhand smoke, which is one of the major causes of lung cancer in never smokers,” she said. “We know that one of the risk factors, especially for lung adenocarcinoma—especially with the high incidence in East Asia—could be related to exposure to cooking oil fumes.”

For example, the traditional kitchen set-up and cooking methods used in “most of the rural areas in low- and middle-income countries are not very well ventilated, and the use of solid fuels such as coal, charcoal, biomass and wood give a lot of pollutants in the air and that increases the lack of ventilation, increases the indoor pollution,” Dr. De Guzman explained.

With multiple forms of indoor air pollution and the associated risks, it’s critical to take action, Dr. De Guzman said.

“Specifically for indoor air pollution, there’s a lot to do,” she said. “It’s not only an oncology issue. It’s a public health issue. We need more collaboration with the other stakeholders.”

Health care professionals play a key role in raising awareness and providing their patients with advice on how to reduce their exposure to indoor air pollutants at home. It’s also important to consider indoor air pollutants when collecting medical histories and considering a person’s risk for lung cancer.

“In a typical clinic, when we do history taking and see patients, we don’t typically include environmental exposures… We do have low-dosage scan screening for patients who smoke and are considered higher risk, but we do not have yet these environmental factors to be included in the screening in the risk prediction model for lung cancer screening. There are groups working on this and hopefully we’ll be able to have those integrated into the screening programs.”