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AIIMS launches initiative to study link between air pollution and lung cancer
This comes at a time when air pollution is a pressing public health crisis, with several Indian cities consistently ranking among the most polluted ones globally.
The project will use a combination of cohort and case-control study designs to assess long-term exposure to PM2.5 across different demographic and socio-economic groups. (Image enhanced with AI)
Oncologists at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have launched a first-of-its-kind study to examine the link between polluted air and risk of lung cancer among people in Delhi-NCR.
The initiative, titled AIRCARE (Air Pollution and Cancer Research Ecosystem), aims to generate India-specific scientific evidence on how prolonged exposure to fine particulate matter (PM), especially PM2.5, contributes to the development of lung cancer. This comes at a time when air pollution is a pressing public health crisis, with several Indian cities consistently ranking among the most polluted ones globally.
Led by Dr Abhishek Shankar, Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology at AIIMS, a multidisciplinary research team is working to address critical gaps in existing data. “Air pollution is no longer just an environmental issue. It is a major health risk, and we urgently need robust Indian data to understand its role in diseases like lung cancer,” Dr Shankar said.
Doctors, meanwhile, warn of a worrying rise in cases even among non-smokers, particularly women and younger individuals. “We are increasingly seeing lung cancer in patients with no history of smoking. This shift strongly points toward environmental factors such as air pollution,” Dr Shankar added.
AIRCARE plans to enroll 1,615 lung cancer patients across Delhi-NCR, along with an equal number of control participants drawn from their families. By selecting family members as controls, researchers aim at ensuring similar environmental exposure, enabling more precise comparisons. “By carefully matching cases with controls from the same households, we hope to isolate the impact of air pollution exposure more accurately,” Dr Shankar explained.
The project will use a combination of cohort and case-control study designs to assess long-term exposure to PM2.5 across different demographic and socio-economic groups. In addition to clinical data, the study will also explore genetic factors. “One of the unique aspects of AIRCARE is our effort to identify an Indian population-specific genetic signature that may explain how pollution exposure translates into cancer risk over time,” he said.
He said one of the key outcomes will be the development of a risk-based screening model tailored to Indian conditions. “Our goal is to build a screening framework that integrates clinical and molecular markers to identify high-risk individuals early.”
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Lung cancer is currently the second most common cancer among men in India and the fourth most common overall. Experts emphasise that without targeted policy measures and improved screening strategies, the burden of the disease is likely to increase. “The findings from this study could significantly influence public health policy, screening strategies, and preventive efforts in India,” Dr Shankar added.
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