Relative and absolute risks of cigarette smoking on major histologic types of lung cancer in Korean men.
OBJECTIVE
Most prospective cohort studies of lung cancer focus on the relative risk rather than the absolute risk of smoking.


METHODS
This prospective study included 437,976 Korean men (cohort for the National Health Insurance Cooperation Study), > or = 40 years old, who were free of cancer and smoking-related chronic disease at the time of enrollment. Based on new incidence cases, relative risk and excess risk, and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), were estimated with the standard Poisson regression model after adjustment for age or other demographic factors and other confounders.


RESULTS
During the 6-year follow-up period of 3,142,451 person-years, 1,357 new lung cancer cases were identified. Based on the multivariate-adjusted relative risk for current smokers, the strongest association with smoking was shown for small-cell lung cancer (relative risk, 21.7; 95% CI, 8.0-58.5) followed by squamous cell carcinoma (relative risk, 11.7; 95% CI, 7.1-19.4) and then adenocarcinoma (relative risk, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.6-2.7). In current smokers with > or = 40 pack-years of exposure, excess risk was highest for squamous cell carcinoma (excess risk, 33.8; 95% CI, 10.2-109.8) followed by adenocarcinoma (excess risk, 26.7; 95% CI, 10.3-64.4), and then small-cell carcinoma (excess risk, 16.3; 95% CI, 1.8-144.3).


CONCLUSIONS
In Korean men, cigarette smoking was as important a risk factor for adenocarcinoma as it was for squamous cell and small-cell lung cancer.
Yun
Young Ho
YH
Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. lawyun@ncc.re.kr
Lim
Min Kyung
MK
Jung
Kyu Won
KW
Bae
Jong-Myon
JM
Park
Sang Min
SM
Shin
Soon Ae
SA
Lee
Jin Soo
JS
Park
Jae-Gahb
JG
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*