A new study links cancer with LED light exposure and screens at night

This is an international study, led by the Global Health Institute of Barcelona (ISGlobal), which will continue this line of studies in collaboration with the GCAT project and its cohort.

The study, of international scope and directed by the Institute of Global Health of Barcelona (ISGlobal) has observed an association between high levels of exposure to blue light during the night and an increased risk of suffering from breast and prostate cancer. The blue spectrum light is the one that emits the majority of white LED lights and many screens of tablets and mobile phones.

The research, which is published in the journal 'Environmental Health Perspectives', has been carried out in the MCC-Spain project, co-financed by the Biomedical Research Consortium in the Epidemiology and Public Health Network (CIBERESP), and has had data medical and epidemiological data of more than 4,000 people between 20 and 85 years old from eleven Spanish autonomous communities. The ISGlobal researcher and study coordinator, Manolis Kogevinas, recalled that "the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the WHO (IARC) has classified night shift work as probable carcinogen in humans."

Ariadna García, ISGlobal researcher and first author of the study, explained that "given the ubiquity of nocturnal artificial light, determining whether or not to increase the risk of cancer is a matter of public health."

In the same line of the study, the GCAT project will collaborate with the group of Dr. Kogevinas and ISGlobal Barcelona in a new study on the effect of pollution on our health.

LED light exposure and screens