HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTION

Although there are no official statistics, doctors increasingly emphasize that smog causes a number of diseases, including lung cancer.

The dangers of growing air pollution and the need to include place of residence in medical interviews can be read in the article " Smog in the lungs: oncologists sound the alarm " in Gazeta Wyborcza Kraków on February 27th (online version here ). Marcin Hetnał, director of the Amethyst Radiotherapy Center, emphasizes in the article: what we breathe affects our health, and smog causes many diseases, including lung cancer. Lung cancer is increasingly being diagnosed among people who have never smoked, and the mortality rate in Poland is higher than the average in the European Union. In a 2013 report, the World Health Organization identified air pollution as a major carcinogen and indicated that 8% of all lung cancers in Europe are caused by smog. In Poland, this figure could reach nearly 2 cases annually.

Therefore, it is an increasingly common practice for doctors to collect information during a medical interview not only about standard risk factors, but also questions about the place of residence and what patients use to heat their homes. This additionally allows us to determine the causes of lung cancer.