Grant Number:	5R03CA128106-02 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Symanski, Elaine
Organization:	University Of Texas Hlth Sci Ctr Houston
Project Title:	Hazardous Air Pollutants and Lymphohematopoietic Cancer Incidence in Houston 1995
Fiscal Year:	2008

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Resubmission PAR-06-294 Small Grants Program for Cancer Epidemiology PI: Symanski, Elaine 1 R03 CA128106-01 Title: Hazardous Air Pollutants and Lymphohematopoietic Cancer Incidence in Houston 1995-2005 Research and Related attachment #6: Project Summary/Abstract Page Hazardous Air Pollutants and Lymphohematopoietic Cancer Incidence in Houston, 1995-2005 Harris County, Texas (Houston) has a large presence of industrial facilities, documented poor air quality and significantly higher cancer rates than the remainder of Texas. Given citizen concerns in this 4th largest city, Mayor Bill White recently partnered with UT School of Public Health to conduct a risk assessment associated with ambient levels of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). This report identified definite risks associated with ambient concentrations of specific pollutants and strongly encouraged future analytic studies linking these pollutants with health outcomes. This project addresses a gap in the literature by evaluating an association between lymphohematapoietic cancer (hereafter LH cancer) incidence and air pollution in the Houston metropolitan area, with particular emphasis on three compounds - benzene, 1,3-butadiene and styrene. These compounds were selected as all are known carcinogens in animal models and have been linked with LH cancer in occupational studies. Analyses are planned of existing data sets obtained from the Texas Cancer Registry (TCR) from 1995-2005 and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) from 1992-2003. Data will be analyzed at the census tract level. Specific Aims are: (1) To investigate the spatial and temporal distribution (clustering) of LH cancer incidence in Harris and surrounding counties, (2) To evaluate the association between distance from industrial sources and LH cancer incidence, (3) To identify optimal methods for assessing ambient levels of benzene, 1,3-butadiene and styrene using existing TCEQ monitoring data; and (4) To evaluate the association between ambient levels of benzene, styrene and 1,3-butadiene and LH cancer incidence using Poisson regression in single and multi-pollutant models, controlling for occupation, smoking, housing stability, race/ethnicity and other potential confounders. This study will incorporate methods for spatial interpolation (kriging) because the TCEQ monitoring sites are not distributed equally across the entire study area. This will be the first study to examine this association in Harris and seven surrounding counties (Texas) and is among the first to utilize monitored levels of HAPs to assess increased risks of LH cancer associated with air pollution, evaluating several analytic methods to determine the most appropriate approach to test this association. Resubmission PAR-06-294 Small Grants Program for Cancer Epidemiology PI: Symanski, Elaine 1 R03 CA128106-01 Title: Hazardous Air Pollutants and Lymphohematopoietic Cancer Incidence in Houston 1995-2005 Research and Related Information attachment #7: Project Narrative Page Project Narrative: The proposed research has direct relevance to public health by identifying census tracts in Harris and surrounding counties, Texas with greater than expected rates of lymphohematopoietic cancer. Additionally, this study will correlate these cancer rates with proximity to industrial facilities as well as ambient levels of three hazardous air pollutants of interest-benzene, styrene and 1,3-butadiene. This study will address a gap in the literature by examining the association between hazardous air pollutants (HAP) and cancer incidence in Harris County, Texas and will further explore innovative methods to evaluate this association utilizing existing data sources.





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