A growing body of research ties environmental pollutants to worse health and shorter life spans for childhood cancer survivors. Yet medical providers lack sufficient resources to address these risks with patients, a recent federally funded study found.
The study, published in Cancers, revealed 80% of pediatric oncology providers surveyed received questions from families about the impact of environmental pollutants on children’s health, but only 25% of providers said they felt comfortable discussing the topic.
“Medical providers receive little to no education or clinical training on the impacts of environmental pollutants like pesticides and wildfire smoke but need resources to better treat patients,” said Mark Miller, MD, MPH, senior author of the study and an associate professor in UCSF’s Occupational and Environmental Medicine division.
To fill the gap, UCSF’s Western States Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (WSPEHSU) is partnering with physicians nationwide to help develop a pediatric cancer environmental referral service. The service will take children’s environmental health histories and risk assessments, then provide a toolkit to their families. The toolkit will include guidance on using the EPA Air Quality Index, carbon dioxide monitors, air purifiers, and other simple and cost-effective strategies to reduce exposure to harmful pollutants.
“Many families express frustration that there are not enough resources to prevent and reduce the impact of environmental pollutants on their kids,” said first author Omar Shakeel, MD, a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at Texas Children’s Hospital. “Ninety-six percent of pediatric cancer providers reported in our study that an environmental referral service would help address these families’ concerns.”
Exposure to pollutants — like pesticides, wildfire smoke, and tobacco smoke — largely goes unnoticed day to day but has serious long-term consequences. Studies have shown pesticides decrease brain and behavioral function in children, while wildfire smoke has the following impacts, according to past research by Miller:
- Developing or worsening chronic lung diseases like asthma
- Exacerbating ADHD and autism, and worsening school performance
- Decreasing birth weight and height and increasing obesity
- Increasing exposure to known carcinogenic chemicals like benzo(a)pyrene, formaldehyde, and benzene
One Texas study showed childhood cancer survivors had higher death rates if they resided at the time of diagnosis near an oil or gas well, which emit hazardous pollutants. Another found that pediatric cancer survivors living in Utah zip codes with higher levels of particulate air pollutants had an increased risk of respiratory hospitalization and death.