Projektdetails

Brief description: Artificial lighting at night (ALAN) was first mentioned as a cause of cancer in 1987. Since then, the link has been increasingly discussed for certain types of cancer; for women the focus is on breast cancer, for men on prostate cancer. While the direct effects of artificial lighting indoors as part of shift work have been classified as carcinogenic since 2007, there is still little knowledge about the effects of outdoor lighting.

Three studies worldwide have established a spatial correlation between the distribution and intensity of night-time outdoor lighting and the prevalence of breast cancer (urban and rural regions in Israel and countries at different stages of development on a global level). However, these studies were criticised for the fact that night-time brightness may not have any direct influence on the development of cancer, but may be a surrogate for (urban) development and thus associated with an urban lifestyle and frequent shift work.

In this study, cities and municipalities in Germany are to be analysed with regard to their night-time brightness and the occurrence of cancer. The spatial units to be compared are of the same size in terms of population, so it can be assumed that their level of development is also similar - and thus also the proportion of shift work.