Cigarettes, lung cancer, and coronary heart disease: the effects of inhalation and tar yield.
Ten-year mortality rates for lung cancer and coronary heart disease have been related to cigarette smoking habits in 17 475 male civil servants aged 40-64 and in sample of 8089 male British residents aged 35-69. Both diseases were more frequent in smokers. Lung cancer rates were higher overall for "non-inhalers", particularly in heavy smokers. Tar yield correlated with the risk of lung cancer in non-inhalers but less so in inhalers. Conversely, coronary deaths were more common among inhalers, and the effect of tar/nicotine yield (such as it was) was confined to inhalers. It appears that there are subtle interactions between the amount smoked, the tar/nicotine yield of the cigarette, and the style of smoking. Thus the effects of a change in cigarette characteristics are hard to predict, and they may be different for respiratory and cardiovascular disease.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010947:Plants, Toxic; D012119:Respiration; D012306:Risk; D012906:Smoke / Q000032:analysis; D012907:Smoking; D013638:Tars / Q000032:analysis; D014026:Nicotiana; D006113:United Kingdom
D012906:Smoke; D013638:Tars