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Residing in greener areas may decrease the burden of chronic diseases, but the association with cancer is unclear. We studied the associations between residential green spaces and site-specific cancer mortality in urban Belgium. We linked the 2001 Belgian census, register mortality data for 2001–2014, and environmental information (green spaces and air pollution) at baseline residence (2001). We included residents from the largest Belgian urban areas aged ≥ 30 years at baseline. Exposure to residential green spaces was assessed using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Urban Atlas, and perceived neighbourhood greenness (from the census). We used Cox proportional hazards models to obtain hazard ratios (HR) and their 95 % confidence intervals (95 %CI) of the mortality risk from lung, colorectal, breast (in women) and prostate cancer (in men) per interquartile range increment in residential green spaces. We further analyzed the role of outdoor air pollution and effect modification by age and socioeconomic position (SEP) in main associations. 2,441,566 individuals were included at baseline. During follow-up, 1.2 % died from lung cancer, 0.6 % from colorectal cancer, 0.8 % from breast cancer, and 0.6 % from prostate cancer. After adjustment, higher exposure to green spaces was associated with a reduced mortality risk from lung cancer and breast cancer [e.g., for NDVI within 300 m, HR:0.946 (95 %CI:0.924,0.970), and HR:0.927 (95 %CI:0.892,0.963), respectively], but not with colorectal or prostate cancer mortality. For the latter, a suggestive hazardous effect of green spaces was found. Air pollution seemed to have only a marginal role. Beneficial effects of greenspace were generally stronger in < 65-year-old, but no clear trend by SEP was found. Our findings suggest that residing in green areas could decrease mortality risk from lung and breast cancer, potentially independent from air pollution. Future studies should consider different indicators of greenspace exposure and investigate potential pathways underlying the associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Our understanding of the impact of long-term exposures to PM 2.5 constituents and sources on mortality is limited. To examine associations between long-term exposures to PM 2.5 constituents and sources and cause-specific mortality in US older adults. We obtained demographic and mortality data for 15.4 million Medicare beneficiaries living within the conterminous United States (US) between 2000 and 2008. We assessed PM 2.5 constituents exposures for each beneficiary and used factor analysis and residual-based methods to characterize PM 2.5 sources and mixtures, respectively. In age-, sex-, race- and site- stratified Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for neighborhood socio-economic status (SES), we assessed associations of individual PM 2.5 constituents, sources, and mixtures and cause-specific mortality and examined modification of these associations by participant demographics and location of residence. We assessed the robustness of our findings to additional adjustment for behavioral risk factors and to alternate exposure definitions and exposure windows. Hazard ratios (HR) were highest for all causes of death, except COPD, for PM 2.5 constituents and the coal combustion-related PM 2.5 components, with no evidence of confounding by behavioral covariates. We further found Pb and metal-related PM 2.5 components to be significantly associated with increased HR of all causes of death, except COPD and lung cancer mortality, and nitrate (NO 3 –) and silicon (Si) and associated source-related PM 2.5 components (traffic and soil, respectively) to be significantly associated with increased all-cause, CVD, respiratory and all cancer-related mortality HR. Associations for other examined constituents and mortality were inconsistent or largely null. Our analyses of mixtures were generally consistent with these findings. Mortality HRs were greatest for minority, especially Black, low-income urban, younger, and male beneficiaries. PM 2.5 components related to coal combustion, traffic, and to a lesser extent, soil were strongly associated with mortality from CVD, respiratory disease, and cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]