# Air Pollution Associates with Cancer Incidences in Poland
## 1 Introduction
The most polluted regions, based on a World Health Organization ranking of the EU cities with the most polluted air, are Lower Silesia, Silesia, and Lesser Poland. As of today, only the tests carried out by the Environmental Protection Inspectorate provide the most reliable information on the state of the atmospheric air in Poland, as they are subject to rules of control and measurement quality. Of note, characteristics and assessments of the quality of the environment can also be made with the use of drones. This method is an alternative to expensive photogrammetric and time-consuming field measurements. Moreover, it is characterized by high mobility (flights below the cloud level, high time resolution, and data registration even for small areas). This method applies to the study of air quality, as well as water analysis. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline  & **Types of Polultants** & **Levels of Polultants** & **Study Design** & **Target Population** & **Reference** \\ \hline
1. & SO\({}_{2}\) & high concentrations (acid haze) & age-adjusted breast and colon cancer & 20 cities in Canada & [2] \\  & & particulate matter concentrations & mortality rates were examined & & \\
2. & PM2.5, NO\({}_{2}\), O\({}_{3}\) & were estimated for the participant & mortality due to kidney, bladder and & 623,048 participants & [3] \\  & & residence & & \\  & acid deposition, carbonaceous & not only ambient pollution but & & age-adjusted, gender-specific and & \\
3. & aerosols, polycyclic aromatic & occupational exposure, smoking, and polycyclic aromatic & race-specific cancer mortality rates & population of the United States (data up to 1994) & [4] \\  & hydrocarbons (PAH) & & were obtained (20 groups of cancer) & & \\  & population exposure to industrial & the relative risks (RR) of towns situated & & \\
4. & pollution emitted by various & pollution was estimated by & at a short distance from industrial & 8098 towns in Spain & [5] \\
4. & & reference to the distance from town & installations were estimated & \\  & & centroids to industrial facilities & (colorectal cancer mortality) & \\  & & measurement data of the Chief & correlation of air pollution with & 2,153,652 cancer cases in Poland & our study \\
5. & PM10, PM2.5, Pb(PM10), As(PM10), Cd(PM10), Ni(PM10), BaP(PM10) & & & \\ \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: A table summarizing the past literature including types of pollutants studied, levels of pollutants, study designs and target population as compared to the data in the current study. PM: particulate matter. In Poland, the earliest studies on the correlation between air pollution and cancer risk concerned the impact of environmental pollution on the incidence of malignant neoplasms of the upper respiratory tract, mainly in the region of Silesia [6; 7]. Further studies extended the research area to all 16 provinces, distinguishing the type of gas or pollution occurring in a given area of the country. Concurrently, the problem of cancer in Poland has been described in [8; 9], and the statistics of cases from 1999-2015 are presented in Figure 1.  
The aim of our study was to indicate which types of cancer are characterized by the highest correlation with the emission of selected types of air pollutants. As a consequence of individual stages of research, the most important gases and pollutants influencing the selected type of cancers (malignant neoplasm of the bronchus and lung, and both the small and large intestine) were determined. This choice was dictated by the national disease statistics--these were the most common cancers. Scientists from Taiwan conducted a very similar study to ours [11]. Annual mean concentrations of each air pollutant were determined at 75 air quality monitoring stations, and the concentrations were extrapolated for 349 local Taiwanese administrative areas. In total, 70 correlation coefficients between cancer incidence rates and various air pollutants were calculated.