Tselebis A, Koukkou E, Milionis C, Zabuliene L, Pachi A, Ilias I. Artificial night light and thyroid cancer. World J Methodol 2024; 14(1): 89853 [PMID: 38577208 DOI: 10.5662/wjm.v14.i1.89853]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ioannis Ilias, MD, PhD, Consultant Physician-Scientist, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Elena Venizelou General Hospital, 2 Elena Venizelou Square, Athens GR-11521, Greece. iiliasmd@yahoo.com
Research Domain of This Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Athanasios Tselebis, Argyro Pachi, Department of Psychiatry, “Sotiria” General Chest Diseases Hospital, Athens GR-11527, Greece
Eftychia Koukkou, Charalampos Milionis, Ioannis Ilias, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Elena Venizelou General Hospital, Athens GR-11521, Greece
Lina Zabuliene, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius LT-03101, Lithuania
Author contributions: Tselebis A and Ilias I designed this research work; Tselebis A, Koukkou E, Milionis C, Zabuliene L, Pachi A and Ilias I performed the research; Tselebis A and Ilias I analyzed the data; Tselebis A, Koukkou E, Milionis C, Zabuliene L, Pachi A and Ilias I wrote the paper; All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: Since this work is based on available, anonymized epidemiological data no IRB approval was necessary.
Informed consent statement: Since this work was based on available anonymized epidemiological data no informed consent was required.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report that they have no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ioannis Ilias, MD, PhD, Consultant Physician-Scientist, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Elena Venizelou General Hospital, 2 Elena Venizelou Square, Athens GR-11521, Greece. iiliasmd@yahoo.com
Received: November 14, 2023 Peer-review started: November 14, 2023 First decision: November 30, 2023 Revised: December 6, 2023 Accepted: February 2, 2024 Article in press: February 2, 2024 Published online: March 20, 2024 Processing time: 113 Days and 17.8 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The occurrence of thyroid cancer (TC) has increased in recent decades. Exposure to outdoor artificial light at night (ALN) is associated with an increased risk of cancer.
AIM
To investigated the impact of ALN, as a significant environmental pollutant, on TC incidence worldwide.
METHODS
The assessment involved analyzing satellite ALN data in conjunction with TC incidence data [adjusted standardized rate (ASR)], while considering the quality of cancer registries (QCR), gross domestic product (GDP) per person, and health expenditure per person (HEP) for each country.
RESULTS
Results indicated a correlation between higher ASR and ALN exposure percentages, particularly in countries with higher GDP or HEP quartiles (all P< 0.05). Significant differences in ASR were observed across QCR levels, both high and low quality (all P < 0.05), but not in countries without registry activity. However, when evaluating ASR against ALN exposure percentages while considering GDP/HEP quartiles or QCR levels, no significant associations were found (all P > 0.10).
CONCLUSION
The findings suggest a potential link between higher GDP and adverse health conditions, serving as possible risk factors for TC, rather than a direct association with ALN. Limitations include the use of cross-sectional data, temporal misalignment, and reliance on ALN as a socioeconomic proxy. It is proposed that light pollution might be connected to a lifestyle conducive to carcinogenesis. Additionally, the presence of higher GDP/HEP could enhance access to diagnostic resources, potentially facilitating TC diagnosis and inclusion in cancer registries.
Core Tip: We explored the impact of outdoor artificial light at night (ALN) on thyroid cancer (TC) worldwide. While a correlation was found between higher TC rates and ALN exposure in countries with greater economic indicators [gross domestic product (GDP) and health expenditure per person (HEP)], the association disappeared when accounting for registry quality. The findings suggest that high GDP may be more closely linked to health conditions and TC risk factors than ALN, possibly indicating a lifestyle connection to carcinogenesis. While correlations between ALN and economic factors are observed, a direct link of ALN to TC remains unconfirmed. Additionally, higher GDP/HEP could contribute to better diagnostic access, aiding TC diagnosis and registry inclusion.
