ArticleBMC public health2025
The association between air pollution exposure and childhood cancer: a scoping review about the challenges in epidemiological studies.
Article in BMC public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Exposure to outdoor ultrafine particle number concentrations and incidence of childhood cancer: A population-based cohort study.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
objectiveAlthough several studies have investigated the association between various air pollutants and the risk of childhood cancer, particularly leukemia, results are still inconclusive. This scoping review aims to identify and discuss the main methodological challenges observed in publications addressing this topic. METHODOLOGY: A literature search was conducted in two databases (MEDLINE and Web of Science), focusing on epidemiological studies that examine the association between air pollution exposure and childhood cancer with publication dates ranging from 2009 to 2024. To ensure completeness, we conducted citation tracking and a supplementary Google Scholar search. Relevant publications were evaluated regarding different methodological aspects.
resultsTwo independent reviewers screened 1683 abstracts and finally evaluated 32 full-text articles based on predefined criteria. Additionally, two cohort studies were included from citation tracking and one case-control study from Google Scholar. Twenty-three studies investigated the association between air pollutants and childhood cancer, 19 of them were case-control studies. This design poses a risk of recall and selection biases. Many studies face challenges such as inconsistent air pollution measurements, varying exposure time frames, and different data sources. Furthermore, many studies under-adjust important confounders like socioeconomic status, radiation levels, urbanization, and parental smoking habits. These issues limit internal validity and make it difficult to draw firm conclusions about the association.
conclusionFurther studies should use more robust methodologies including improved exposure assessment, larger study populations, and advanced statistics, to strengthen the association between air pollution and childhood cancer and inform public health policies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.