A study of cancer mortality in an urban industrial environment

The study examines the relationship between urban air pollution, as indexed by total suspended particulate concentrations, in Lake and Porter Counties in Indiana, and the Calumet region of South Chicago, Illinois. This area exhibits a pollution gradient conducive to a study of this type; high pollution levels in a heavily industrialized urban region, and low to moderate pollution levels in an adjoining rural region. The study reveals the difficulties encountered in drawing conclusions from epidemiological investigations involving an urban population. Nevertheless, it appears to support the contention that air pollution and other factors characteristic of an urban environment contribute to elevated cancer mortality rates.