Smoking kills

A study that involved over 460,000 men and women has found that women and men smokers have equal chances of getting lung cancer. The results of the study have been published online in The Lancet Oncology.

Until this large-scale study undertaken by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), there had been debates about whether women who smoked were more or less susceptible than male smokers to lung cancer. In comparison to male smokers, the likelihood of women smokers developing lung cancer was less by a very minimal difference — only 0.9% less likely.

The study involved 279,214 men and 184,623 women. They were asked to provide information on their smoking habits (if currently smoking, used to smoke, number of cigarettes smoked per day), diet, alcohol consumption, and physical exercise. The data came from many organizations, including the American Cancer Society and the National Center for Health Statistics.

Among the key findings are the following:

* Incidence rates of lung cancer stood at 1.21% for women and 1.47% for men.

* There was a very strong correlation between smoking and the risk of lung cancer, and this was true regardless of gender.

* Those who smoke two packs of cigarettes a day had 50 times the likelihood of developing lung cancer than those who do not smoke at all.

* Among people who did not smoke, women had 1.3 times more likelihood of developing lung cancer than men who never smoked.

* Smoking has the effect of shortening a person’s life span by about 5 years.

There is common agreement among the medical and health community in the United States that cigarette smoking is directly associated with 9 out of 10 cases of lung cancers. However, scientists were not quite agreed on how differently the dangerous habit affects men and women.

The study now indicates that there may be a difference in the type of lung cancers that beset the sexes. Among men and women who had never smoked, the rate of incidence of undifferentiated tumors and of small cell, squamous tumors were statistically the same.

But among those who smoked, the incidence of adenocarcinomas was more common among women than men.  Males who smoked also had two times more likely to have squamous tumors than female smokers.

The reliability of the findings is enhanced by the number of people involved in the study. The research team recommends that the elimination of smoking among men and women should be the subject of a vigorous program to reduce incidences of smoking-related lung cancers.

The effects of smoking on health are devastating for those who remain addicted to tobacco use. In December 2007, Safety Issues covered the story of Maureen Hamilton, an anti-smoking activist who died of emphysema, another debilitating lung disease associated with heavy smoking.