title: The association between artificial light at night and prostate cancer in Gwangju City and South Jeolla Province of South Korea.
abstract: ABSRACT Exposure to artificial light at night (ALAN) has been reported to be associated with various pathological changes including sleep deprivation, circadian rhythm disruption, and melatonin suppression with increase in various cancers such as breast or prostate cancers. In this study, we sought to elucidate the association between ALAN and prostate cancer in 27 districts within Gwangju City and urban and rural areas from South Jeolla Province in South Korea. We analyzed the correlation between ALAN and the incidence of a range of cancers by Poisson regression analysis, after adjustment for confounding risk factors, such as smoking, drinking, obesity, stress, air pollution (particulate matter <10 μm in diameter), urbanization (proportion of urbanized area), and the cancer screening rate. Interestingly, the incidence of prostate cancer was significantly associated with ALAN (risk ratio = 1.02, p = 0.0369) and urbanization (risk ratio = 1.06, p = 0.0055). In particular, comparing the prostate cancer incidence at 25% and 75% level of ALAN, the risk ratio was 1.726 (12.6 over 7.3, respectively). No significant association was observed between ALAN and other cancers, including stomach, esophageal, liver, pancreatic, laryngeal, lung and tracheal, bladder, and brain and central nervous system cancers, as well as lymphoma and multiple myeloma. In conclusion, this study shows that a high incidence of prostate cancer may be independently associated with light pollution and urbanization, which represent significant factors in the rapid process of industrialization of South Korea.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Nursing , College of Nursing, Gachon University , Incheon City , South Korea.
authors.forename: Ka Young
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: b Department of Preventive Medicine , College of Medicine and School of Public Health Korea University , Seoul , South Korea.
authors.forename: Eunil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: b Department of Preventive Medicine , College of Medicine and School of Public Health Korea University , Seoul , South Korea.
authors.forename: Yun Jeong
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: b Department of Preventive Medicine , College of Medicine and School of Public Health Korea University , Seoul , South Korea.
authors.forename: Jinsun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D002947:Cities; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008027:Light / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008297:Male; D008550:Melatonin / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D012892:Sleep Deprivation; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D008550:Melatonin
keywords: Artificial light at night; South Korea; light pollution; prostate cancer; urbanization