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Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Cancer
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- American Cancer Society
- British Medical Journal
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- Intl Agency for Research on Cancer
- Natl Research Council
- Natl Research Council Comm
- Sgc, Surgeon General's (Advisory) Comm
- US Public Health Service
- Who, World Health Org
- British Medical Journal
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- Akiba
- Brownson
- Butler
- Chan
- Correa
- Dalager
- Doll
- Enstrom
- Everson
- Fung
- Gao
- Garfinkel
- Geng
- Gillis
- Grufferman
- Hirayama
- Humble
- Inoue
- Kabat
- Knoth
- Koo
- Lam
- Lee
- Lowrey
- Martin
- Miller
- Pathak
- Pershagen
- Peto
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- Repace
- Rothman
- Samet, J.M.
- Sandler
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- Slattery
- Surgeon General
- Trichopoulos
- Weiss
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- Wilcox
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- Wynder, E.
- Brownson
- Date Loaded
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- Master ID
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Related Documents:- 87808171-8434 Environmental Tobacco Smoke: A Compendium of Technical Information
- 87808176-8203 Chapter 1 Passive Smoking - Beliefs, Attitudes, and Exposures in the United States
- 87808204-8210 Chapter 2 Effects of Smoking on Smokers
- 87808211-8229 Chapter 3 the Odor and Irritation of Environmental Tobacco Smoke
- 87808248-8275 Chapter 5 Measuring Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke
- 87808276-8299 Chapter 6 Exposures to Air Pollutants
- 87808300-8329 Chapter 7 Exposure Assessment in Passive Smoking
- 87808330-8363 Chapter 8 Absorption of Smoke Constituents by Nonsmokers
- 87808364-8384 Chapter 9 the Effects of Passive Smoking and Day Care on Respiratory Illnesses in Children
- 87808385-8420 Chapter 10 No Smoking Policies at the Worksite A Look at What Companies Are Doing Today
- 87808421-8434 Appendix to Chapter 10 Economic Justification for No Smoking Policies at the Worksite
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TABLE 2
case-control Studies of Involuntary Smoking and Lung Cancer
Study
Findings
Comments
40 nonsmoking female
cases, 149 controls,
1978-1980, Greece
(Trichopoulos et al.
19s1).
84 female cases and
139 controls, 1976-
1977, Hong Kong
(Chan et al. 1979;
Chan and Fung 1982).
22 female and 8 male
nonsmoking cases,
133 female and 180
male controls, U.S.
(Correa et al. 1983).
19 male and 94
female nonsmoking
cases, and 110 male
and 270 female non-
smoking controls,
Japan (Akiba et al.
1986).
99 nonsmoking cases
and 736 controls,
Louisiana, Texas,
New Jersey (Dalager
et al 1986).
28 nonsmoking cases
and 292 nonsmoking
controls, New Mexico
(Humble et al. 1987).
77 nonsmoking cases,
2 matched control
series, Sweden
(Pershagen et al.
1987).
RR* by husband smoking:
Nonsmokers - 1.0
Exsmokers - 1.8
Current smokers
< 20/day - 2.4
k 20/day - 3.4
RR of 0.75 associated
with smoking spouse,
compared to 1.0 for a
nonsmoking spouse.
RR by spouse smoking:
Nonsmokers - 1.00
< 40 pack years - 1.48
>_ 41 pack years - 3.11
For females, RR of 1.5
if husband smoked; for
males, RR of 1.8 if
wife smoked.
RR for marriage to a
marriage to a smoking
spouse was 1.5.
RR for marriage to a
smoking spouse was 3.2
No effect in active
smokers.
RR for marriage to a
smoker was 3.3 for
squamous small cell
carcinomas.
5Zb
Trend statistically
significantly. His-
tologies other than
adenocarcinoma and
bronchioloalveolar
carcinoma.
All histologies.
Two reports are
inconsistent on the
exposure variable.
Significant increase
for >_ 41 pack years.
Bronchioloalveolar
carcinoma excluded.
Clinical or radio-
logical diagnosis
for 43%. All types
of lung cancer.
Nearly 100% histo-
logical confirma-
tion. All types of
lung cancer.
All types other
other than
bronchioloalveolar
carcinoma.
No effect of expo-
sure for other
types. Study based
within a cohort.

t
1984) and to excess risk at specific sites.
Sandler and colleagues (Sandler, Everson, and Wilcox 1985a;
1985b; Sandler, Wilcox, and Everson 1985) conducted a case-
control study on the effects of exposures to environmental
tobacco smoke during childhood and adulthood on the risk of can-
cer. The cases included cancers of all types other than usual
forms of skin cancer. For all sites combined, a statistically
significant increase in risk was found for exposure to smoking by
a parent (crude relative risk - 1.6) and by a spouse (crude rela-
tive risk - 1.5); the effects of these two sources of exposure
were independent (Sandler, Wilcox, and Everson 1985). Statisti-
cally significant associations were found for some individual
sites as well. These provocative findings will require replica-
tion in additional studies. In a case-control study, such as
reported by Sandler and colleagues, biased information on ex-
posure to environmental tobacco smoke is of particular concern.
In the cohort study in Japan, Hirayama (1984) found significantly
increased mortality from nasal sinus cancers and from brain
tumors in nonsmoking women married to smokers. In a case-control
study of bladder cancer, involuntary smoking at home and at work
did not increase risk (Kabat et al. 1986). Cervical cancer,
which has been linked to active smoking, was associated with
duration of involuntary smoking in a case-control study in Utah
(Slattery et al. 1989).
These associations of involuntary smoking with cancer at
diverse sites other than the lung cannot be readily supported
with arguments for biological plausibility. Increased risks at
some of the sites, e.g., cancer of the nasal sinus and female
breast cancer, have not been found in active smokers (U.S. DHHS
1982). In fact, the International Agency for Research on Cancer
(1986) has concluded that effects would not be produced in in-
voluntary smokers that would not be produced to a larger extent
in active smokers.
References
Akiba S, Kato H, Blot WJ. Passive smoking and lung cancer among
Japanese women. Cancer Res 1986; 46:4804-7.
Brownson RC, Reif JS, Keefe TJ, Ferguson SW, Pritzl JA. Risk
factors for adenocarcinoma of the lung. Am J Epidemiol 1987;
125:25-34.
Butler C, Samet J, Humble CG, Sweeney ES. The histopathology of
lung cancer in New Mexico, 1970-1972 and 1980-1981. 3 Natl
Cancer Inst 1987; 78:85-90.
Chan WC, Colbourne MJ, Fung SC, Ho HC. Bronchial cancer in Hong
Kong 1976-1977. Br J Cancer 1979; 39:182-192.
m
48 ~
O
~
N
W
~

i
carcinogens. A family history of lung cancer is also associated
with increased lung cancer risk, although a clear pattern of
genetic susceptibility to lung cancer has not been demonstrated.
Outdoor air pollution may contain carcinogens and indoor air may
have high levels of radon, which causes cancer in exposed under-
ground miners. Animal and human studies suggest that low con-
sumption of vitamin A or its precursor, beta-carotene, may also
increase lung cancer risk.
While studies linking active smoking to lung cancer were first
published in the late 1940s and early 1950s (U.S. PH5 1964),
involuntary exposure of nonsmokers to tobacco smoke was not
considered as a cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers until 1981
when the first two scientific papers on this subject were pub-
lished. Subsequently, many additional reports have addressed in-
voluntary smoking as a cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers, and
the World Health Organization (1986), the U.S. Surgeon General
(U.S. DHHS 1986), and the National Research Council (1986) have
reviewed the evidence and judged it sufficient to support the
conclusion that involuntary inhalation of tobacco smoke by non-
smokers causes cancer. This chapter reviews the evidence on in-
voluntary smoking and lung cancer from human populations, and the
conclusions of these organizations. The chapter also addressess
the more limited evidence on involuntary smoking and cancer at
sites other than the lung.
The Enidemiolooical An rp oach
Epidemiology_is the scientific method used to describe the
occurrence of disease in human populations and to determine the
causes of disease by studying populations. Descriptive measures
of disease occurrence include the incidence rate, which is the
rate at which new cases of disease develop; the mortality rate,
or rate of death; and the prevalence rate, which is the propor-
tion of the population with disease. To identify the causes of
disease, epidemiologists generally perform either cohort or case-
control studies. Each type of study provides an estimate of
relative risk as a measure of the association between exposure
and disease. The relative risk describes the comparative occur-
rence of disease in exposed compared with nonexposed persons.
In a cohort study, the subjects are selected on the basis of
their exposure history and followed over time for the development
of disease. For example, a study of involuntary smoking and lung
cancer might be performed by enrolling nonsmokers married to
smokers and another group of nonsmokers married to nonsmokers.
The lung cancer risk associated with marriage to a smoker would
be estimated by comparing incidence or mortality from lung cancer
in the two groups.
In a case-control study, cases with the disease of interest
and controls without the disease are identified and their past
42

TABLE 2 (continued)
Case-control Studies of Involuntary Smoking and Lung Cancer
Study
Findings
Comments
102 adenocarcinoma
cases, 50 males and
52 females, and 131
controls, Colorado
(Brownson et al.
1987).
25 male and 53
female nonsmoking
cases with matched
controls, 1971-1980,
U.S. (Kabat and
Wynder 1984).
88 nonsmoking female
cases, 1981-1982,
Hong Kong (Koo et
al. 1984; Koo et
al. 1985).
31 nonsmoking and
189 smoking female
cases, U.S. (Wu et
al. 1985).
134 nonsmoking
female cases, U.S.
(Garfinkel et al.
1985).
15 male and 32
female nonsmoking
cases, and 30 male
and 66 female non-
smoking controls,
England (Lee et
al. 1986).
No effect in entire
group. In nonsmoking
women, RR of 1.7 for
exposure >_ 4 hrs/day,
versus 1.0 for <_ 3
hrs/day.
RR not sighificantly
increased for current
exposure at home:
Males - 1.26
Females - 0.92
RR of 1.24 (not stat-
istically significant)
for combined home and
workplace exposure ver-
sus 1.0 for nonexposed.
No association with
cumulative hours of
exposure.
No significant effects
of exposure from par-
ents, spouse, or work-
place in smokers and
nonsmokers.
Nonsignificant RR of
1.22 if husband smoked.
Significantly increased
RR of 2.11 if husband
smoked 20 or more cig-
arettes daily at home.
Significant trend of RR
with number of cigarettes
smoked at home by the
husband.
Overall RR for spouse
smoking of 1.1.
Involuntary smoking
effect not signifi-
cant in nonsmoking
women, but only 19
such cases included.
All types. Findings
negative for spouse
smoking variable as
well.
All types of lung
cancer.
Adenocarcinoma and
squamous cell carci-
noma only.
All types of lung
cancer. Careful ex-
clusion of smokers
from the case group.
Hospital-based
study.
52 c.

Introduction
Lung cancer, an uncommon malignancy at the start of the cen-
tury, has become the leading cause of cancer death in the United
States (U.S. DHHS 1982). Approximately 150,000 lung cancer
deaths will occur in the United States in 1989. Most cases are
rapidly fatal and only a small proportion are cured by surgery or
chemotherapy; five-year survival following diagnosis is less than
10 percent. Most lung cancers arise in the larger airways of the
lung, the predominant site of deposition of inhaled particles in
the size range of 0.5 to 3.0 microns in aerodynamic diameter.
Primary cancer of the lung occurs in multiple histopathological
patterns that are generally distinct and classifiable by conven-
tional light microscopy. The principal types are squamous cell
carcinoma, small cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and large cell
carcinoma; in the general population, these four types account
for approximately 30 percent, 20 percent, 25 percent, and 15 per-
cent, respectively, of all lung cancers (Butler et al. 1987).
Bronchioloalveolar cell carcinoma represents about 5 percent of
the remaining lung cancers. The cellular origins of the various
cell types have not been established, and controversy remains
concerning the specificity of associations between certain cell
types and specific etiologic agents.
The epidemic rise of lung cancer during this century stimu-
lated laboratory and epidemiological investigation of its causes.
Most of the early evidence indicated that tobacco smoke was a
potent respiratory carcinogen, and in 1964 the Advisory Committee
to the Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service con-
cluded that cigarette smoking is a cause of lung cancer (U.S. PHS
1964). Subsequent investigations have been uniformly consistent
with this conclusion. The association of lung cancer with
cigarette smoking is strongest for squamous cell and small cell
cancers, but the other major types are also caused by cigarette
smoking. In active cigarette smokers, the risk of lung cancer
increases with both the amount smoked on a daily basis and with
the duration of smoking (U.S. DHHS 1982; Doll and Peto 1978;
Pathak et al. 1986). A threshold level of smoking that must be
exceeded to cause lung cancer has never been demonstrated; any
cigarette smoking is considered to increase lung cancer risk
beyond that of the lifelong nonsmoker. In former smokers, the
risk of lung cancer declines exponentially in comparison with
those who continue to smoke.
Agents other than tobacco smoke may also cause lung cancer,
and cases occur in lifelong nonsmokers. A recent study in New
Mexico showed that the lifetime risks of lung cancer were 0.5
percent and 1.1 percent in female and male nonsmokers, respec-
tively (Samet et al. 1988). Occupational exposures to arsenic,
asbestos, chloromethyl ethers, chromium, coke oven fumes, nickel,
and radon daughters have been linked to increased lung cancer
risk, and many other occupational agents are suspect respiratory
41

J
with involuntary smoking, but both studies have limitations.
Knoth and coworkers (1983), in Germany, described 59 lung cancer
cases in females of whom 39 were nonsmokers. Based on census
data, these investigators projected that a much greater than ex-
pected proportion of the nonsmokers had lived in households with
smokers. In another report, Gillis et al. (1984) described the
preliminary results of a cohort study of 16,171 males and females
in western Scotland (Table 1)t exposure to tobacco smoke in the
home increased the lung cancer risk for nonsmoking men but not
for nonsmoking women. This observation was based on only 16
cases of lung cancer in nonsmokers, however.
other investigations indicate lesser or no effects of exposure
to environmental tobacco.smoke on lung cancer risk (Tables 1 and
2). In these studies, however, the statistical uncertainty is
large because of the relatively small numbers of subjects; ac-
cordingly, the apparently negative findings are statistically
compatible with the findings of those studies judged as positive.
Two separate case-control studies in Hong Kong, where lung cancer
incidence rates in females are particularly high, did not indi-
cate excess risk from involuntary smoking (Chan et al. 1979; Chan
and Fung 1982; Koo et al. 1984; Koo et al. 1985; Koo et al.
1987). In the more recent of the two studies, the investigators
comprehensively assessed cumulative exposure from home and
workplace sources, but misclassification of exposure may have
biased towards the negative results. A subsequent study in Hong
Kong did find a significant association of spouse smoking and
lung cancer risk (Lam et al. 1987). Lee and coworkers (Lee et
al. 1986) in England reported a small case-control study with
negative findings. Another recent hospital-based case-control
study, conducted in Japan, also did not show an association be-
tween lung cancer risk and spouse smoking (Shimizu et al. 1988).
The results of the American Cancer Society's cohort study of
lung cancer mortality in 176,139 nonsmoking women have also been
considered by many as not showing an increased risk in those par-
ticipants married to smokers (Garfinkel 1981). However, the
risks for the nonsmoking women with smoking husbands were in-
creased somewhat, but the increase was not statistically sig-
nificant. Misclassification of exposure from active and involun-
tary smoking may have affected the results of this study.
Preliminary results from a nationwide case-control study also did
not demonstrate increased lung cancer risk from domestic exposure
to tobacco smoke (Kabat and Wynder 1984), but the number of sub-
jects was small. Two case-control studies of nonsmokers and
smokers with selected histological types of lung cancer did not
provide strong evidence for increased risk from involuntary smok-
ing (wu et al. 1985; Brownson et al. 1987). Both studies,
however, included only small numbers of nonsmokers.
Conclusions on Involuntary Smokino and Luna Cancer
45
--------------- -

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49
