Service of Preventive Medicine, University Hospital Complex of Ourense , Ourense , Spain.
Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Santiago de Compostela , Santiago de Compostela , Spain.
Expert Rev Respir Med. 2019 Sep;13(9):839-850. doi: 10.1080/17476348.2019.1645599. Epub 2019 Jul 24.
: Lung cancer is the most important cause of cancer mortality. It is a multifactorial disease with multiple risk factors, including residential radon exposure. : The aim of this paper was to review the epidemiology of residential radon exposure and its impact on lung cancer risk. While tobacco is the main risk factor of lung cancer, residential radon is the first cause in never-smokers and the second in ever-smokers. Moreover, the synergistic effect between tobacco consumption and radon exposure should be considered. However, the biological mechanism by which radon and its decay products induce lung cancer is not entirely known. : Residential radon is usually neglected by clinicians. In fact, no lung cancer risk score (predicting incidence or mortality) includes radon as a variable. Further studies are needed to find out the molecular pathways of radon that cause lung cancer and whether this radioactive gas is also involved in the development of other diseases other than lung cancer. There is a clear need to increase awareness among administrations, health professionals and the general population in order to take the necessary measures to reduce this harmful exposure, particularly in radon-prone areas.
肺癌是癌症死亡的最重要原因。它是一种多因素疾病，有多个危险因素，包括住宅氡暴露。本文旨在回顾住宅氡暴露的流行病学及其对肺癌风险的影响。虽然烟草是肺癌的主要危险因素，但住宅氡是不吸烟者的首要原因，在吸烟者中则是第二大原因。此外，应考虑烟草消费和氡暴露之间的协同作用。然而，氡及其衰变产物诱发肺癌的生物学机制尚不完全清楚。住宅氡通常被临床医生忽视。事实上，没有任何肺癌风险评分（预测发病率或死亡率）将氡作为一个变量。需要进一步的研究来确定氡导致肺癌的分子途径，以及这种放射性气体是否也参与了除肺癌以外的其他疾病的发展。显然，需要提高行政部门、卫生专业人员和公众的认识，以便采取必要措施减少这种有害暴露，特别是在氡高发地区。
