School of Public and Population Health Professor Douglas Myers was recently quoted in the Environmental Health News article “In polluted cities, reducing air pollution could lower cancer rates as much as eliminating smoking would.”
The article dives into Myers’ most recent co-authored publication “If Smoking Were Eliminated, Which US Counties Would Still Have High Rates of Smoking-Related Cancers?”
The study concluded that most areas with high levels of air pollution would still have high rates of smoking-related cancers, even if everyone in that area had quit smoking. The research team found that eliminating smoking in areas with poor air quality would make little difference in smoking-related cancer rates.
“We found air pollution was the primary driver of counties where cancer rates would remain high even if everyone quit smoking,” Myers said. The study concluded that, in addition to reducing rates of smoking, more must be done to curb air pollution in order to reduce the rate of these cancers.
Myers’ research focuses on blending sociology and epidemiology to study health outcomes.