The number of lung cancer cases in the Chinese capital Beijing has soared over the last decade.
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According to figures, they have increased by more than 50%.
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Beijing health officials say smoking is still the number one cause of lung cancer, but they admit air pollution is also a factor.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) recently estimated that polluted air kills millions of people every year.
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The latest figures - which are for only one city and one disease - were issued by Beijing municipal health bureau.
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They show the number of lung cancer patients per 100,000 people was 39.56 in 2002, but had jumped to 63.09 by 2011.
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The article gave no reason for the increase in patients.
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Beijing health officials said lung cancer was linked to lifestyle choices, with smoking still the top cause. But they said passive smoking and air pollution could also be a factor.
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Last month the WHO issued a scientific report detailing the link between air pollution and a number of different diseases and illness.
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It estimated that breathing in fine particles contributed to 3.2 million premature deaths a year across the world and killed more than 200,000 from lung cancer.
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"More than half of the lung cancer deaths attributable to ambient fine particles were projected to have been in China and other East Asian countries," said the WHO.
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Chinese people are becoming increasingly worried about the health problems caused by the thick air pollution that often blankets much of their country, a result of rapid economic expansion coupled with poorly enforced laws designed to protect the environment.
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Earlier this week it was reported that a eight-year-old girl in Jiangsu province had become the country's youngest lung cancer patient. Air pollution was blamed.
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The hospital that was supposed to be treating her denied the reports, but the outcry caused by the story shows just how concerned people have become.
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