It’s no secret that air pollution is tied to lung disease and cancer, but a new study sheds light on the significant role of pollution when it comes to head and neck cancer.

Mass General Brigham researchers have found that air pollution is linked to higher rates of head and neck aerodigestive cancer.

“While there has been substantial research investigating the effects of air pollutants on lung disease, few studies have focused on air pollution exposure as a risk factor for the upper airway, including the development of head and neck cancer,” said study senior author Stella Lee.

“These findings shed light on the significant role of environmental pollution in cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract, highlighting the need for further awareness, research and mitigation efforts,” added Lee, who’s with the Center for Surgery and Public Health and division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system.

The study, “Air Pollution Exposure and Head and Neck Cancer Incidence,” is the work of a multi-institutional collaboration with researchers from Mass General Brigham, Johns Hopkins University and Wayne State University.

“Environmental health and personal health are inextricably linked,” said co-author Amanda Dilger, of the Center for Surgery and Public Health and Massachusetts Eye and Ear.

“Our study highlights the need to improve air quality standards in order to decrease the risk of developing cancer, including head and neck cancer,” Dilger added.

The research was led by John Cramer, associate professor of otolaryngology, and John Peleman, medical resident in the department of Otolaryngology in the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

“There has been previous research on air pollution, but the effects mostly were connected to cancers within the lower respiratory system,” Cramer said. “Head and neck cancer is a harder link to show, and it has a much lower occurrence than lung cancers, but since they also occur as a result of smoking, similar to lung cancers, we wanted to explore any connections.

“Presumably, the link to head and neck cancer comes from what we breathe to that material affecting the lining in the head and neck,” Cramer added. “We see a lot of occurrences of where carcinogens touch or pool in the body to where cancers can occur.”

Their research used data from the U.S. Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results national cancer database from 2002 to 2012.

Cramer noted the highest association between this type of pollution exposure with head and neck cancer after a five-year lag period.

They focused on PM2.5, which is particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 microns, and its effect on head and neck aerodigestive cancer incidence.

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“We are looking at a certain size of air pollution particulates,” Cramer said. “The size of the particles is relevant because the classic model for studying the upper airways is that the nose and throat act as filters before it gets into the lungs. Larger particles are being filtered out, but we are conceptualizing that different types of pollution hit different parts of the airways.”

Cramer hopes to expand their research by taking other data sets into account.

He hopes that by showing this research to the public, it could help guide policy, as well as aid treatment in the future.