Influence of Residential Environment and Lifestyle on Multiple Primary Malignancies in Taiwan

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Multiple primary malignancies (MPM) have become increasingly prevalent worldwide. Thisinvestigation was aimed at establishing the clinicopathological characteristics of MPM patients and evaluatingthe impact of the living environment on MPM in the Taiwanese population. Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: FromJanuary 2009 to December 2013, a total of 8,268 cancer patients were identified in our institutional center.Of these, 125 were diagnosed as MPM and thus enrolled. Data for clinicopathological features and treatmentapproaches for these MPM patients living in urban or suburb zone were obtained. Findings for the air pollutionstatus in Taiwan were also collected. <br/><b>Results</b>: The most common cancer match of MPM was esophageal cancerwith hypopharyngeal cancer (12.8%), followed by colorectal cancer with gastric cancer (6.4%) and colorectalcancer with breast cancer (5.6%). The air quality was significantly worse in the urban than in the suburbanzone and there was a remarkably higher portion of MPM patients in the urban zone suffering from grade IIIand IV post-chemotherapeutic neutropenia (30.8% vs 15.1%, P=0.036). <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: The tumor frequency andsite distribution should be taken into the clinical evaluation because there is a relatively high risk of developingMPM. This study also highlighted the potential influence of environmental factors on post-chemotherapeuticneutropenia for patients with MPM.