Wildfire Smoke Dents Survival Odds For Lung Cancer Patients
By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, June 2, 2025 — Wildfire smoke could make it harder for people with lung cancer to survive, a new study says.
Californians with lung cancer who breathed smoke from wildfires had a 20% increased risk of dying from their cancer, researchers reported Saturday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago.
Wildfire smoke contains particle pollution that can get deep into the lungs, noted researcher Dr. Surbhi Singhal, an assistant professor of oncology at the University of California-Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.
“The research tells us that there are small particles in the air that could make lung cancer worse,” Singhal said in an ASCO news release.
Researchers tracked more than 18,000 Californians with the most common kind of lung cancer — non-small cell lung cancer — between 2017 and 2020.
They estimated people’s exposure to wildfire smoke using air quality monitoring based on their home address.
Results showed that people with advanced stage 4 cancer who’d never smoked were most affected by wildfire air pollution. Their risk of dying from cancer rose 55% if they were exposed to lots of wildfire smoke.
"As wildfires become more frequent and intense in California and other parts of the U.S., we need targeted health strategies to protect cancer patients and others with serious health problems,” Singhal said. “These results highlight the urgent need to protect vulnerable populations living in wildfire-prone regions.”
Interestingly, stage 4 lung cancer patients with a history of smoking who were being treated with immunotherapy actually experienced better survival rates during days of extremely high particle pollution levels from wildfires, researchers found.
They said this suggests that smoke-related changes in the body might interact with certain treatments, and should be studied further.
Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Sources
- University of California-Davis, news release, May 31, 2025
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted June 2025
Read this next
Recalled: More Than 67,000 Cases of Deodorant Sold at Dollar Tree, Walmart, and Amazon
TUESDAY, July 22, 2025 — More than 67,000 cases of Power Stick deodorant have been recalled due to an undisclosed manufacturing issue. The recalled deodorants, made by A.P...
Dogs Can Sniff Out Parkinson's Disease, Study Shows
TUESDAY, July 22, 2025 — Dogs’ noses are sensitive enough to track down fleeing convicts, locate human remains in hidden burial sites and detect illicit drug...
For Some, Gluten Intolerance Is Psychological, Study Says
TUESDAY, July 22, 2025 — Gluten intolerance might be all in the minds of some people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), results from a small-scale experiment...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.