Abstract 95: Vehicle Fleet is Associated With Hospitalizations for Oncological Treatment and Surgery in Brazil: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Kieling Lucas , Barreto Pedro Antonio Paludo Menna , da Silva Laura Tibola Marques , de Andrade Rafaela , Beltramo Luiza Seixas de Sá , Lech Gabriele Eckerdt , Azambuja Fernando , Alberti Arthur Minas , Silveira Pedro Arthur Zimmer 
Published: June 2023

Purpose: Vehicles are a giant source of carcinogenic substances, given the fact they power up by the combustion of gasoline, gas, or even ethanol, which can be harmful on a daily basis. Thus, our objective is to ascertain if the vehicle fleet in a region is related to its hospitalizations for oncological treatment and surgery. We expect that the vehicle fleet is directly related to oncological treatment and surgical procedures.

Methods: A cross sectional study was designed using data collected from the DATASUS database, related to the number of hospitalizations for oncological treatment and surgery among Brazilian macro regions and states in the period of 2008 to 2021. It was then correlated with the vehicle fleet data of each macro region and state of July 2021 released by the Secretaria Nacional de Trânsito, federal institution that manages vehicle fleets in Brazil. Motorcycles, trailers, automobiles, trucks, tractors and buses are considered in this analysis. Pearson correlation test was performed using the Graphpad Prism software. P&lt;0.05 was defined as significant.

Results: Brazil’s vehicle fleet amounts to 113,406,884 vehicles. The Southeast region has the biggest fleet, as well as the highest number of hospitalizations, followed by south, northeast, central-west, and north, respectively. São Paulo has the most vehicles, 31,920,712, and also the highest number of hospitalizations, accounting for 24.3% of the total. At the same time, Amazonas showed the lowest vehicle fleet (228,731) as well as oncological hospitalizations (6,373). Pearson correlation was statistically significant considering states (p&lt;0.0001, R²=0,9516) and macro regions (p=0,0038, R²=0,9574).

Conclusion: These results suggest that the fleet is directly related to oncological surgical procedures and treatment. Data from this study can help public policies to take further decisions on investments in collective transport and transition to electric powered vehicles. It is important to note that this is a cross-sectional study, which can only light up hypotheses, not ascertain causality and there may be factors of confusion, such as southeast being the most developed and richest region, capable of a higher number of diagnoses.

Citation Format: Lucas Kieling, Pedro Antonio Paludo Menna Barreto, Laura Tibola Marques da Silva, Rafaela de Andrade, Luiza Seixas de Sá Beltramo, Gabriele Eckerdt Lech, Fernando Azambuja, Arthur Minas Alberti, Pedro Arthur Zimmer Silveira. Vehicle Fleet is Associated With Hospitalizations for Oncological Treatment and Surgery in Brazil: A Cross-Sectional Study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 11th Annual Symposium on Global Cancer Research; Closing the Research-to-Implementation Gap; 2023 Apr 4-6. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2023;32(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 95.