title: Is prostate cancer incidence worldwide linked to artificial light at night exposures? Review of earlier findings and analysis of current trends.
abstract: Widespread use of artificial light at night (ALAN) might contribute to the global burden of hormone-dependent cancers. Previous attempts to verify this association in population-level studies have been sparse. Using GLOBOCAN, US-DMSP, and World Bank 2010-2012 databases, we studied the association between ALAN and prostate cancer (PC) incidence in 180 countries worldwide, controlling for several country-level confounders. The PC-ALAN association emerged marginally significant when year-2012 PC age-standardized rate data were compared with ALAN levels (t = 1.886, p < .1); this association was more significant (t > 2.7; p < .01) when only 110 countries with well-maintained cancer registries were analyzed. Along with other variables, ALAN explains up to 79% of PC ASR variability. PC-ALAN association appears to vary regionally, with the greatest deviations in Central Africa, Small Island Developing States, Southeast Asia, and Gulf States.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management , Faculty of Management, University of Haifa , Mt. Carmel , Israel.
authors.forename: Nataliya A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Rybnikova
authors.affiliation: b The Israeli Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Chronobiology, University of Haifa , Mount Carmel, Haifa , Israel.
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haim
authors.affiliation: a Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management , Faculty of Management, University of Haifa , Mt. Carmel , Israel.
authors.forename: Boris A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Portnov
mesh_terms: D004560:Electricity; D014943:Global Health; D006153:Guanosine Diphosphate; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008029:Lighting / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012042:Registries; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D006153:Guanosine Diphosphate
keywords: Age standardized incidence rates; artificial light at night (ALAN); circadian disruption; melatonin suppression; regional differences; world countries