Philip Morris
the Impact of Passive Smoking: Cancer Deaths Among Nonsmoking Women
Fields
- Author
- Miller, G.H.
- Type
- PSCI, PUBLICATION SCIENTIFIC
- ABST, ABSTRACT
- BIBL, BIBLIOGRAPHY
- CHAR, CHART, GRAPH, TABLE, MAPS
- ABST, ABSTRACT
- Area
- PARRISH,STEVE/OFFICE
- Litigation
- Okag/Privilege Withdrawn
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- MARG, MARGINALIA
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- N326
- Named Organization
- Erie Community Foundation
- Itt Life Insurance
- Nas, Natl Academy of Sciences
- Itt Life Insurance
- Author (Organization)
- Cancer Detection + Prevention
- Named Person
- Chittenden, C.E.
- Depue, R.
- Hawthorne, V.
- Miller, G.H.
- Novotny, T.
- Schneiderman, M.
- Depue, R.
- Master ID
- 2023382094/2668
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ERRATA
Cancer Detection and'Preoention
Voltune 14 / Issue 5, 1990; pp. 497-503
Dr. G. H. Miller, the author of "T'he Impact of Passive Smoking: Cancer Deaths among Nonsmoking
Wornen" rcquested that
a revised Abstract be printed to clarify several points. -
ABSTRACT
In order to obtain an estimate of the impact of passive smoking on cancer mortality, a retrospective
study was conducted
examining the cancer mortality of nonsmoking wives with no known or minimal exposure in contrast to
nonsmoking wives with
moderate to life-time exposure to tobacco smoke. The study was based on the data from 906 deceased
nonsmoking women who
resided in Erie County, Pennsylvania, who were divided' into the following three categories:
I. No known exposure
2. Exposed nonemployed
3: Employed (assumed to be exposed to environmental ~ tobacco smoke in the workplace).
The data were analyzed by the retrospective case-control method using cancer deaths as the cases and
non-cancer related deaths
as the controls. Also, the data from 401 smoking women were used for comparative purposes of the
total percentage of cancer
deaths among three groups:
1. Nonsmoking, nonexposed women
2. Combined nonsmoking unemployed and employed exposed women
3. Smoking women
The major finding from the study are
1. Only (2.2%) of the total deaths reported among the nonsmoking women with no known or minimal
exposure to tobacco
smoke were
due to cancer of any site i
., ~~ ~ 2. ^`No eass§'of !wt .cancer deaths werc_. ' -.ed for the` nonex
report posed:'nonsrrtolung women, and eightaurig,cancer deaths;w~e.
- ~- , . , ~.
`'Farnong the nonsmoking women who were exposed to passive smo{ting.'Also, for this small group of
179 nonsmoking
nonexposed'women there were no reported cases of breast cancer~ genitourinary or lymphatic cancer.
3. Employed nonsmoking women experienced proportionately more cancer, deaths (34.3%) than both
nonexposed (2?%) and
exposed nonemployed wives (18.9%). The combined groups of exposed nonsmoking wives (nonemployed and
employed)
contracted' 25.5% cancer deaths..
4. Age-adjusted data showed similar trends.
5. Cancer death rates for women smokers was 35.5% of the total deaths of women smokers.
Public health officials should consider requiring that the workplace be free from tobacco smoke
since these data imply that
passive smoking has a very detrimental effect upon nonsmokers. Also, smokers should be made aware of
the potential dam-
age they inflict on others in their home as well as the workplace.
688 . Volume 14, Issue 6

Cancer Detection and Prevention
The Impact of Passive
Smoking: Cancer Deaths among
Nonsmoking Women
G.H. Miller, Ph.D., CPC
ABSTRACT
In order to obtain an estimate of't6e impact of passive smok-
ing on cancer mortality, a retrospective study was conducted
examining the cancer mortality of nonsmoking wives with no
known or minimal exposure in contrast to nonsmoking wives
with moderate (up to 19 years) to lifetime exposure to tobacco
smoke. The study was based on the data from 906 deceased
nonsmoking women from Erie County, Pennsylvania, who were
divided' into the following three categories:
1. No known exposure
2. Exposed nonemployed wives
3. Employed wives assumed to be exposed to environtnental 1
tobacco smoke in the workplace
The data were analyzed by the retrospective case-control
method using cancer deaths as the cases and non-cancer related
deaths as the controls. The major findings from the study are
1. Only 2.2% of the deaths reported among the women with
no known or minimal exposure to tobacco smoke were
due to cancer of any site.
2. No cases of lung cancer were reported' for the nonexposed
women, and eight lung cancer deathc were reported among
the nonsmoking women who were exposed to passive
smoking.
3. Employed women experienced proportionately tnore can-
cer deaths (35.3%) than both nonexposed (2.2%) and
exposed nonemployed wives (25.5%).
4. Age-adjusted data showed' similar trends.
Public health officials should consider requiring that the
workplace be free from tobacco smoke since these data imply
that passive smoking has a very detrimental effect upon non-
smokers both at home and in the workplace..
Key Words: passive smoking, lung cancer,, breast cancer.
I. INTRODUCTION
Whether or not passive smoking is detrimental to health has
been extensively considered in the last decade. The first reports
on the effects of long-term exposure to passive smoking ap-
pearedin the late 1970s.'" Prior to that tiine, it was generally
assumed that passive smoking was not of much consequence.
However, most health professionals were aware of reports of
moderate-to-severe eye irritation as well as allergic reactions
to tobacco smoke.'" Then: were also reports of the serious
health consequences observed in animals after exposure to high
concentrations of tobacco unoke.' In the 1970s, research re-
ports discussed the effect of increased respiratory diseases in
children of smoking parents.I These were followtd by the 1980
Surgeon General's report on the hanmful effects of cigarettes
on the health of smoking women including research reporting
lower birthweights among children of smoking morhers.' Pas-
sive smoking has been associated with deleterious effects on
the fetus.'-s
In 1978' and 1979,' at the Third W orld Conference on Smok-
utg and Health, Miller''0 proposed a passive smoking classi-
fication based on three different exposure levels: (1) short-tetm
- a few minutes to a few hours; (2) moderate-term - less
than 2 decades; and (3) long-term - 2 decades to a lifetime.
He suggested that studying the consequences of long-term ex-
posure provided the best opportunity for observing the effecu,
if any, of passive smoking. He reported a 4-year earlier av-
erage-age-at-death of nonsmoking women exposed totttei> hus-
bands' cigarette smoke compared' with nonsmoking, nonex-
posed women.
White and Froeb9 in 1979 reported severe lung dysfunction
following long-term exposure to tobacco smoke. Hirayama,10
Tricopolous et al.," and and Correa et al.'= noted a two- to
threefold increase in lung cancer in exposed wives when com-
pared to nonexposed wives. Gilli's et a1i13 and' Schmidt etal."
have also shown that passive smoking is detrimental to the
health of the nonsmoker. Miller,'s Sandler et al.,16 and Repace
and' Lowrey" each showed a two- to threefold increase in total
cancer deaths following long-term exposure to passive smok-
ing. Garfinkel et al;," who had previously found no statistically
signi6canrevidence of the detrimental effects of passive smok-
ing, now reports a two- to threefold increase in lung cancer.'v
Wald et al'.20 and Pershagen et a1.21 most recently have provided
support for the hypothesis that passive smoking increases lung
cancer incidence, largely among spouses. Two reports provide
a detailed review of the research on passive smoking, noting
its detrimental effects: the Surgeon General' recommended a
smoke-free environment, and the National Academy of SciencesZ'
recommended no smoking in the home environment of chil-
dnen:
In order to obtain additional information on the effects of
passive smoking, this study compared different levels of en-
vironmental tobacco smoke exposure of married nonsmoking
G.H. MHler, Ps.D.. CPC, Studies om Smokin`.,tnc., 125 High Saeet:
Edinboro. PA 16412. I
1990 497
.. . . . _ ... s ~

The Impact of Passive Smoking: Cancer Deaths among Nonsmoking Women
11
women with cause of death. The causes of death include& in
the study were the usual causes of death such as cardiovascular.
cancer, and respiratory diseases but excluded traumatic deaths
such as accidents. suicides, and homicides. Men were not
included in this studv since so many men are exposed tc en-
vironmental tobacco smoke in the workplace.
II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
A. The Population
The population of Eraie County. which includes Eric. the
third largest citv in Pennsvlvania. was 263.654 in 1970. It is
primarily a middle income population (the average family in-
come for 1970:was listed as S9:380) with a low migration rate
of 7% for the 1950 to 1970 time period as reported by the
Pennsylvania Department of Commerce.
8.Methodoloqyi
The Northwestern Pennsylvania Study on Smoking and Health
(NPSSH) began to gather data in 1973 on the smoking habits
of deceased male and female residents in Erie County by in-
terviewing the decedents' next of kin. Death notices for the
years 1972 through 1982 were obtained from the local news-
paper. which lists the names of approximately 95% of deceased
Erie County residents along with information on surviving rel-
atives.
Telephone numbers of one to three surviving relatives were
obtained for approximately 85% of the death notices reporte&
in the newspaper. Deaths from accidents, suicides, congenital
anomalies, and persons younger than 30 years of age were not
ineludedbecause an age bias is introducedwhen those classified
in these categories have their lives curtailed and therefore would
not provide an accurate estimate of the age at which cancer
actually occurs for the passive smoking-exposed women. Be-
cause of the reduced life expectancy. the inclusion of accidents
and suicides would, lower the incidence of cancer since those
in the lower age cohorts might have contracted some type of
cancer had they lived long enough. These individuals com-
prised about 10% of the total deaths.
A questionnaire designed for telephone interviews was con-
structed with the assistance of the local branches of the Amer-
ican Cancer Society. the American Heart Association, the
American Lung Association, and by smoking and health ex-
perts in the Pennsylvania Department of Health. A more de-
tailed description of~ this questionnaire has been published.'s
lnterviewers explained the purpose of the study to the iden-
tified surviving relatives and solicited their cooperation. In-
formation was collected from them on each decedent's cause
of death, age, occupation (including inforrnation on whether
or not the wife worked outside the home), exposure to known
sources of pollution (including environmental tobacco smoke),
smoking history, and whether or not the spouse and parents
smoked. The interviews were conductedlb% thr dir«tor it the
studv and by interviewers trained bc him.
The questionnaire was revised in 1975. and :,Jdttion,,l items
were included to obtain more complete informatiom , in ., ~rx)u.r "
smoking habits such as type and quantit% ut none:,:o u,r.J.
details on smoking cessation. the age at the time or de:uh ,,rn1
the cause of death. the current age if livtng. the trur 1r ,lei.,JC
of death if deceased. Information on whether an, other mem-
bers of the household smoked was also added.
Detailed data on passive smoking from the re% i.ed yut,-
tionnaire were gathered on the decreased from, 23 months in
the years 1975. 1976. 1979. and 1980: these aere the unl%
data considered in this study. Due to logistical problem.. the
interviews for deaths occurring in other months were not :nm-
pleted at that time. The totaGnumber of deaths amon¢ re.idents
of Erie County for these 4 years (Pennsylvania Department ofi
Health) was 10.131 (5478 men and 4653 women). Among the
3538 relatives contacted. 3361 (95%) provided information on
1863 men and 1.198 women. Of the 1498 deceased %k omen for
whom information was obtained. smoking exposure hi,toriass
were available for 1423 - 906 nonsmoking wives. who are
the subjects considered in this paper. plus data on 401! smokers.
Of the remaining 116 deceased nonsmoking women. 63 ne.er
married and 53 did not have sufficient information on passive
smoking to include in this study. Fon example. the statement
that a husband was a smoker was not considered, sufficient
evidence if details on amount and type of tobacco use wore
unavailable. resulting in the exclusion of the wife trom this
study: These data are summarized in Table 1.
In this study. a nonsmoker was defined as a person w ho had'
smoked fewer than 20 packs of cigarettes during his or her
lifetime. A nonsmoking. nonexposed wife was one `who had
no known reported exposure to tobacco smoke from any source
or minimal exposure (only occasional exposure to pipe. cigar.
or cigarette smoke). A nonemployed exposed wife was one
who was exposed to cigarette smoke by a family member
Table I
Total Deaths from All Causes, Totali Cancer Deaths,
and' Number of Intervtews from the Erie County
Population Data Base for the Years 1975, 1976,
1979, and 1980
Intervkws Intervkws
Atl All Totat passive used in
esuses eaecer Interviews smokln` study
Men 5.478 1.116 1.863 1.793
Women 4.653 995 1.498 1.423 906'
Total 10.131 2.111 3.361 3.216
This figure includes only, twnsnwtcing women with detailed informaoion on
passive smoking exposure. It excludes 401 smotting wives and 116 who
were never married. single. or of uncertain passive smokmg sutus.
498 Volume 14, Issue 5

Cancer Detection and Prevention.
(husband. children, or relatives) or a nonfamily member. or
had reported long-term exposure to srnoky rooms in non-em-
ployed activities outside the home. An employed wife wass
identified by a surviving relative as a person engaged in an:
occupation outside the home for more than 3 years.
In order to insure a clearly defined category for nonexposure.
all those who may have had any potential moderate-to-heavy
exposure were eliminated from ahis category. Thercfore., those
not included in the nonexposed spouse category, in addition
to the 401 smoking women, were (I) women who were married
at any time to a smoker; (2) women exposed by family or
friends or exposed in nonemployed activities; (3) all non-
smoking employed women.
Although some nonexposed~ individuals might have beem
eliminated by these definitions, the nonexposed category as
defined here is as free as possible from the inclusion of those
who may have been exposed ~ for longer periods of time. The
nonsmoking wives were categorized in the following three
groups based upon the information reported in the telephone
interviews with relatives:
1. NX - nonexposed (no known or only minimally ex-
posed) wives
2. ENE - exposed nonemployed wives
3. EW - Employed wives who were assumed to have some
exposure at work
The data were analyzed using the retrospective case control
techniques described by Fleiss.2' The "cases" were defined as
deaths (among nonsmoking wives) due to cancer of any kind
while the "controls" were noncancer deaths among nonsmoking
wives. These deaths included cardiovascular. respiratory, kid-
rtey, and other noncancer diseases, but ~ excluded traumatic deaths
such as accidents and suicides.
The classification of the cause of death as recorded on the
death certificate was provided by the ICD (International Clas-
sification of Diseases) codes listed on computer printouts pro-
vided by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The causes
of death reported by the next of kin were not used since the
ICD codes are considered more accurate. However, the infor-
mation provided by the surviving relatives was very close to
the ICD codes when comparison was made between the next
of kin's report of the cause of death given during the interview
and' the ICD (Death Certificate) disease designation. Details
on these data will be reported separately.
In order to be sure that all those classified as having no
known exposure to carcinogenic compounds of tobacco smoke
were classified correctly, very close relatives of the deceased
were located ~ and interviewed if the first interviewee was not
a close relative. or close relatives were interviewed again to
obtain greater accuracy in the classification of the nonexposed.
During this interviewing, it was discovered that two women
classified as nonexposed who died of breast cancer were ac-
tually exposed to cigarette smoke by their husbands and chil
dren.,This reducedrthe total cases of canceramong nonexposed
women from six to four.
Because of the small numbers with different types of cancer,
only the major cancer categories were considered as noted in
the standard International Classification of Diseases: Oral (140--
149). Digestive tract (150-159), Respiratory (1160-163): Breast
(l74) Genitourinary (180-189). Lymphatic (200-209): and
All Other Cancer Sites.
Although specific details on cancer deaths due to smoking
are not considered in the present study, a comparison was made
with the nonexposed (NX). the exposed nonsmokers (ENE and
EW). and smokers (employed and nonemploved) to provide
comparisons betwe.en ~ the nonexposed. exposed nonsmokers..
and smokers.
In order to check for potential bias due to age. the data were
age adjusted for all cancer causes and4or the major categories.
of cancer:: oral, breast. lung. respiratory. genitourinary. an&
lymphatic.
111. RESULTS
Analysis of the data in the two by three contingency table
(tTable Il--two categories: cancer cases and noncancer cases
compared with the three categories: NX (nonexposed wives).
ENE (exposed nonemployed wives), EW (employed wives)j
Table II
Deaths among Nonexposed and Exposed
Nonsmoking Wives
Cancer '.Yoneancer Total Percent cancer
deaths deaths deaths deaths
Plonexposed.
11t nonemptoved 4 175 179
Exposed.
, ,
(2) nonemployed 78 334 412 18'9
t3i Employed log 207 315 }4,3
Total 190 716 906 21 0
Chi, square for above 3 by 2 matnx 12 DF1 - 72.64
Chi square evaluations for'_ by 2 compansons i 1 DFi
Odds Cht
ratio square
cl ivs i2t iNonexposed vs exposed 10:: 290
nonemployed wi%esi ~
i l Ia 43) INonexposed Vs. emplo.ed ='.8 6h' u
wivesi:
121 vs (3t (Exposed nonemploved wives -._ 3
vs. employed wives)
111 vs INonexposed vs. exposed IF.0
1t'_) - 4311 nonemplo.ed and employed
wives)
1990 499

The Impact of Passive Smoking: Cancer Deaths among Nonsmoking Women
showed a Chi Square value of 72.64 with 2 degrees of freedom
(p <0.01D.
Table II also shows four different comparisons of the three
subgroups: (l ) nonexposed wives (:VX) with exposed nonem-
ployed wives iENE): (2) nonexposed' wives (NX) with em-
ployed wives iEW): (3) exposed nonemployed wives (ENE)
with employed wives (EH'): and(1) nonexposed wives (NX)
,l
compared with the combination of exposed nonemployed wives
(EtiE) and employed wi.:es (EW). J " data;from Tabl'e ~
'kttow that exposure to envitonmenta
~
'
"
asso-~
s ~7~' a,"~y..,-w~r".~'~ .tiai
. ra:~E ~~' V.. ip4,1~^'"~ .
tam
~tatoir"`wlt}~ Inc~a~ed" cance mo a s hn 1 an od'ds t
ratto$~C3'~ tten'"c m pang nonexRose =on~e~ "'
ployev`&Mves"an odds4ratio of 22.8 when comparing nonex-,
posed"tviVef wtth emploved wtves,-an odds ratto of 2 2 when .
companlf~ e>lpc3sid`eonemployet'`wi'Tie e )'~by~d w ve's `
andaii~`rattqof' 15:0_when companngttonexpos%c~w'es~
with exposed nonemployed wives and employed wi've.sw r
Proportionally far fewer nonsmoking noneXposed wives died
of cancer than the exposed wives. The comparison of the ex-
posed nonemployed wives with employed wives also showed'
highly significant excesses in cancer mortality among the em-
ployed women.
Table IIl shows the mortality from cancer by primary site
for the three different exposure groups (NX - nonexposed
wives: ENE - exposed nonempioyed wives, and EW - em-
ployed wives) for themajor categories of cancer (oral, digestive
tract. breast, genitourinary: lymphatic, and other sites). There
were no reported deaths from oral. lung, broast, genitourinary.
and lymphatic cancer among the 179 deaths within the nonex-
posed women. One death from digestive cancer and three deaths
from "other" cancers were reported for the nonexposed. Eight
deaths due to lung cancer were reported among the 727 deaths
of exposed (nonemployed and employed) nonsmoking wives.
Figure 1 shows the percentage of deaths due to cancer among
nonexposed wives, exposed wives (both nonemployed and em-
ployed), and smoking wives. Although smoking wives are not
considered in detail in the present study, the preliminary data
are provided here for comparative purposes:
I. Nonexposed' nonemployed wives - 2.'_17c
2. Exposed (employed and nonemploved) wi+es -_5.5cic
3. Smoking wives (employed and nonempltiycd) - 35,39,
In addition, the data for cancer deaths were age adjusted by
the standard age-adjusting methods. The cancer deaths were
adjusted to cause distribution of all female decedents in the
years considered in this study (1975. 1976. 1979. 1980) from
Erie County based on the data from the Pennsylvania Depart-
ment of Vital Statistics. The results of the expected and ob-
served were analyzed by the two-way probability based on the
Poisson distribution and are reported in Table IV: The Poisson
distribution was used since the nonexposed' group had so few
cases. Table IV shows' the results after age adjusting for all
cancer cases, digestive cancer. and the results for the combi-
nation of orall lung. breast. genitourinary. and lymphatic can-
cers which appear to be associated with effects of passive
smoking.
IV. DISCUSSION
While many epidemiologists prefer to conduct prospective
studies. the retrospective study has the advantage of allowing
one to obtain estimates in a short time. Thus, this type of a
research provides mortality data related to information on the
smoking habits of the deceased.
Because nonsmoking women may be exposed to numerous
sources of tobacco smoke. this study tried' to eliminate as many
of the sources of tobacco smoke exposure as possible in order
to more accurately classify women into a "pure" nonexposed
category. It is probable that persons in this "pure" category
have had some small exposures to tobacco smoke during their
lives, because minimal exposure is difficult to avoid.
The present study was designed to obtain smoking history
data on all nonsmoking wives who died during the specified
years. While it is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain data on
all members of a population, there is little reason to believe
that the 23-months' sampling of the 4-year population was
Table Ill
Major Types of Cancer for Nonexlposed and Exposed Nonsmoking Wives
Type of
nncer
Oral t>ti{nt1.e
trsct
inpirawry { B.east
Genitoarinary LymObatJc cllher
tdtn
Total AveraBe age
at dat6
ICD
clusificuion
140-149
150-159
160-163
174
174-185
200-209
NX' 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 4 84:5
ENE 0 28 3 14 9 a 16 78 71.1
EW 0 38 5 23 14 10 16 10/ 67:8
Taul 0 67 8 39 23 18 35 190
Noae: ICI). International classification of disease; NX:' nonexposed M ives: ENE: exposed nonempbyed
wives; EW: employed wives:
Total: exposed and nonexposed'wivea.
Volume 14, Issue 5

Cancer Detection and Prevention
srrrt er t~trtis
FIGURE 1. A companson of mortaliy rates of smoken. passive smokers.
and the nonexposed.
Table IV
Analysis Using Age-Adjusted Values for Cancer
Sites (All Cancer, Digestive, and Passive Smoking-
Associated Cancer) for the Three Major
Nonsmoking Groups
Diseasc Group EXP OBS Probability
All cancer
Nonexposed 24.0 4 0.00002
Exposed nonemployed 73.1 78 NS
Exposed employed' 70.6 108 0:001
Digestive Cancer
Nonexposed
9.3
1
0:002'
Exposed nonemployed 24.2 28 NS
Exposed employed 20.4 38 0.01
Pusi.+e
smoking-
usociated
cancer
onexposed
.2
0
.0002
Exposed nonemployed 35.7 34 NS
Exposed employed 38:9 54 0.1
biased in the types of cancer deaths that would' have occurred
during these years. Analysis of the data of previous nonrcs-
pondents showed the same basic distribution of cancer deaths
as the analysis of original respondents. Therefore, the data
from this population study are likely to be representive of the
actual population.
~ther smokers in the household, or in outside activitiesl Pas 2'
higher probability of dying of cancer of all kinds n women
*'h0 have-no known exposure. 1 e Cit~C~elµ>17ai~~)n,rlOli~ ,
~smoking Eric County wives with no known exposu're to t~o'b"fae/'co
smoke is very low _.-only 2.2% vs. 25.55rr~qr exposed women
and 35.3% for smoking wives (Figure I/: ~
The data imply that the absence of passive smoking could
lead to even lower rates of cancer mortality for the total pop-
ulation. Thus, these data tndicate that passive smoking is vers;
sdetrimenaQu~~alteDf`ttLRo sinokef`".";'- 4r .
The total proportion of deaths due to cancer for the 401
smoking and 906 nonsmoking wives in this studN is 23.9rK.
This result is close to the proportion of deaths.due to cancer
for women in Erie Counry, (21.8%) for the years considered
in the study as reported in the Pennsylvania Department of
Healtti- Division of Vital Statistics. This agreement sug¢estss
that the data are representative of the total population.
The observation that the nonsmoking employed wives had
an odds ratio of 2.2 of dying of cancer when compared with
exposed nonemploycd wives suggests that workplace expo-
sures may involve important hazards in addition to. or apart
from, tobacco smoke. Over 80% of the employed wives in this
study were either office workers in sales occupations. teachers.
or nurses, who (aside from the nurses) should have had little
contact with carcinogenic agents other than tobacco smoke..
The doubling of the rates of cancer for employed women com
parcd with nonemployed women are in agreement with the data
of'Rcpace and JAwr}'-3'and'the estimates made by V4'ells.'O It
may be thar work place passive smoking exposure is higher
than at home. Another possible explanation is that the em
ployed wives may receive additional tobacco smoke exposure
from smokers at home such as from their spouse. i.e.. their
husbands may be more likely to be smokers or heavy smokers.
Also of interest is the observation that onlv' 8 deaths due to
lung cancer were reported among the total of 727 passively
exposed nonsmoking wives. Thus passive smoking does nott
result in large numbers of lung cancer cases when compared
to active smoking. This difference is in agreement with the
results of several studies by Hirayama.10 Tricopoulos et al.."
and Correa et, al.1e showing two- to threefold increases in lung
cancer for exposed vs. nonexposed wives and a much larger
increase for smokers. In addition. a study by MilJer on the
Amish - a nearly completely nonsmoking population - showed
no lung cancer cases among either male and female nonsmokers
for the Lancaster County: Pennsylvania. Amish for the 1970
to 1980 decade.
There were no reported deaths from lung cancer. breast'
cancer. genitourinary.or lymphatic cancer among wives with
no known exposure to tobacco smoke among the total ofi 179
deaths in the nonexposed category: This contrasts with the
distribution. of cancer mortality for women in the general
population of Erie County for the years under consideration:
lung cancer - 12:7%: brcast cancer - 20.7 K. and lym-
a
_Tlese daii..DrQVIQe6ldeMeO't)Iatolt~flStaft n ex
smo fi rl~lated°Eb"5t'!~_ W)&.'"ig
t990 501

The Impact of Passive Smoking: Cancer Deaths among Nonsmoking Women
phatic cancer - 8.7%. These Erie County percentages of
cancer causes by site are close to the national averages. Thus
it appears that the types of cancer reported in the nonex-
posed group are very different from the types of cancer re-
ported for, both passive smoking and~ active smoking groups.
While ir has been shown that passive smoking causes some
lung cancer ca,es. the amount is small compared with that
of those who smoke.
Whether or not breast cancer is caused by active or pas-
sive smoking has become a controversial issue. Previously.
it was thought that breast cancer was not active-smoking re-
lated. For example. no editions of the U.S. Surgeon Gener-
al's Reports from 1964 to 1989 show any subsections de-
voted to active smoking and breast cancer. However, the
Bibliography of Smoking and Health and Index Medicus
provides reports of many studies on the topic of smoking and
breast cancer. The most recent studies appear to be equally
divided between those concluding that there is no overaff
positive association with active smoking and breast caneer'1-"
and those that conclude a positive and, in some cases, a sig-
ni6cant association between active smoking and breast can-
,-_,s
cer.-
It has been onlv recently that studies have taken into account
the potential effect of passive smoking and its possible asso-
ciation with breast cancer. Two of the mosu recent studies were
completed by Sandler et al.J6 and'Honon." Two other major
cancer categories have been reported as being associated with
passive smoking exposure - lymphatic cancer, by Wells:=°
and eervical cancer. by Slattery et al.a' The data from the
present study agree with the studies noted above.
The possibility of passive smoking being associated with
cancer sites was also verified by the highly significant values
obtained after age adjusting for total cancer, digestive cancer.
and the combined' passive smoking-related cancer sites (refer
to Table IV).
Since many studies during this decade have come to the
conclusion that breast cancer is not smoking related, this new
data might appear to be questionable. However, past studies
failed to allow for such passive smoking categories as employed
women and others smoking in the household. Therefore, the
results of the NPSSH study should provide a more accurate
estimate of passive smoking exposure.
A recent article by Bailar and Smith," pointing to the
continued increase in cancer mortality despite our apparent
gains in early identification, as well as improvements in the
treatment of eancer, shows that cancer is still increasing in
the population. It may be that the cumulative long-term ef-
fects of both passive smoking andactive smoking are con-
tinuing to have an impact on this increased cancer mortal-
ity. These issues have important implications for both the
home and the workplace.
More research is needed to validate these observations.
New studies require:
I. Better estimates of exposure to passive smoking. The
nonsmoking category should exclude emplo}ed~women.
women exposed at home by individuals other than their
spouse. and long-term exposure in outside nontmplo-~ed
activities. as well as exposure at home by their spouse.
2. Long-term exposure information - preferably a mini-
mum of 3 decades-to-lifetime exposure. Studies tmolv-
ing a few weeks or months or even a few years of'exposure are inappropriate for an analysis of the
true
long-term impact of passive smoking.
3. Large enough samples to provide valid data.
For comparative purposes with the results of this studv, the
author would like to see more population studies instead of
nonrandom or nonpopulation based samples in order to over-
come the biases that are inherent in these types of sample
designs..
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author is extremely grateful to Dr. Marvin Schneider-
man of the National Academy of Sciences for his statistical
and editorial assistance, to Dr. Robert DePue for his complete
computations on the age adjustment of the data, and to Charles
E. Chittenden, Dr. Victor Hawthorne, and Dr. Thomas No-
vomy for additional editorial assistance.
Partial assistance for this study has been made possible by
grants from the ERIE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION'and the
ITT LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY.
And thanks to the many thousands of cooperating relatives
who made this study possible.
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1990 503
