Haifa Bay Area Residents Get More Cancer

A new and comprehensive study led by Dr. Keren Agay-Shay from the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine at Bar-Ilan University has shown a link between residence in the Haifa Bay area (HBA), home of the country's most polluting factories and the largest of Israel’s ports, and higher incidents of cancer. The study analyzed a cohort of over a million residents of the State of Israel between the years 1995-2015. The study showed that residence in the Haifa Bay area significantly increased the chances of getting various types of cancer, and longer residence in the HBA were linked with additional significant increases in cancer. Among all the cancer types, the highest risk was for lung, bladder, breast, prostate, skin, and colon cancers. The study illustrated that the incidence of all cancer types for young adults (ages 20-39) was significantly higher for HBA residence compared with non-HBA residence. This is the first study that reports an increased risk of cancer for this subpopulation. This study was done in collaboration with Prof. Michael Blank, also from the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine at Bar-Ilan University and a member of the Dangoor Center for Personalized Medicine.

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