Cigarette smoking and prostate cancer: no relation with six measures of lifetime smoking habits in a large case-control study among U.S. whites.
BACKGROUND
The study was undertaken to describe the association between lifetime cigarette smoking habits and prostate cancer. Whereas most case-control and cohort studies report no association, the positive findings from some large cohort studies are difficult to ignore. The available information on lifetime smoking habits from most studies is limited however.


METHODS
In a study of 1,097 prostate cancer cases and 3,250 matched controls, admitted between 1969 and 1991 to U.S. hospitals, several ordinal measures of lifetime smoking were compared to look for dose-response or threshold associations.


RESULTS
No association was seen between prostate cancer and former or current smoking, age started smoking, number of years smoked, cigarettes per day smoked, the number of years since quitting, and lifetime tar exposure.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data provide the most complete dose-response smoking information to date, and support the findings from the majority of studies that prostate cancer is not associated with cigarette smoking.
Lumey
L H
LH
Division of Epidemiology, American Health Foundation, New York, New York 10017, USA.
Pittman
B
B
Zang
E A
EA
Wynder
E L
EL
D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004522:Educational Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000209:etiology*; D012067:Religion; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*