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Exposure to emissions from Mount Etna (Sicily, Italy) and incidence of thyroid cancer: a geographic analysis.

ABSTRACT: An increased incidence of thyroid cancer has been reported in the area close to Mount Etna, the largest volcano in Europe located in Northeastern Sicily. We tested the hypothesis that exposure to the emissions from the volcano is associated with thyroid cancer in 186 municipalities from three provinces surrounding the volcano (1.9 million inhabitants). We measured the angle between the bearing of the municipalities and each direction, with special focus on South-East, the prevalent direction of the plume, and conducted a regression analysis on 2003-2016 incidence rates of thyroid cancer, adjusting for distance from Mount Etna, population size, and income. A 10-degree increase in the angle with South-East was associated with a decrease in thyroid cancer rates in the whole population (-?0.67 cases/100,000, p?=?0.002) and in women (-?1.54/100,000, p?

SUBMITTER: Boffetta P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7718918 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Exposure to emissions from Mount Etna (Sicily, Italy) and incidence of thyroid cancer: a geographic analysis.

Boffetta Paolo P Memeo Lorenzo L Giuffrida Dario D Ferrante Margherita M Sciacca Salvatore S

Scientific reports 20201204 1

An increased incidence of thyroid cancer has been reported in the area close to Mount Etna, the largest volcano in Europe located in Northeastern Sicily. We tested the hypothesis that exposure to the emissions from the volcano is associated with thyroid cancer in 186 municipalities from three provinces surrounding the volcano (1.9 million inhabitants). We measured the angle between the bearing of the municipalities and each direction, with special focus on South-East, the prevalent direction of ...[more]

PMID: 33277509

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