Early-onset blood cancer risks associated with living near superfund sites

Abstract

Residential environmental chemical exposures have been associated with elevated cancer risks. Here we examined the risk associated with living near Superfund sites for leukemia and lymphoma, two “indicator” cancers with high sensitivity to environmental chemical exposures. Analyzing 127 locations with available data (55 New York City (NYC) neighborhoods and 72 counties, totaling 39.25% of the U.S. population; 23 with large Superfund sites), we found modestly higher area-level incidence rates of leukemia and lymphoma in locations classified as affected by Superfund sites. For lymphoma, estimated incidence rate ratio (95% confidence interval) was 1.07 (1.02, 1.11) among 20-49-year-olds and 1.05 (1.02, 1.09) among 50-64-year-olds, corresponding to a 1.19 and 1.14 area-level relative risk respectively for the two groups living within 2 km (NYC) or 5 km (elsewhere) of a Superfund site. As many Superfund sites are located around population centers, these findings highlight the need for mitigating such exposures and cancer risks.