Peer-Reviewed Publication

New Haven, Conn. — A new study led by researchers at Yale University suggests that early-life exposure to two widespread environmental pollutants— small particle air pollution and outdoor artificial light at night—could increase the risk of pediatric thyroid cancer.

The study—a collaborative effort involving multiple Yale departments and institutions across the U.S.—found a “significant association” between exposure to ambient fine particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5) and outdoor artificial light at night (O-ALAN) and increased risk of papillary thyroid cancer in children and young adults up to 19 years old. The exposures occurred during the perinatal stage of life, typically defined as the time from when pregnancy occurs up to a year after birth.

The researchers integrated computational and functional approaches that enabled them to identify not only specific genes whose alterations predicted increased AD risk in humans and behavioral impairments in AD fruit fly models but also showed that reversing the gene changes has a neuroprotective effect in living organisms.

Christopher Worsham, MD, MPH, of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, is the lead author of a paper published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) “Firearm availability and firearm incidents: quasi-experimental analysis using start of US hunting seasons.”