Philip Morris
Lung Cancer and Exposure to Tobacco Smoke in the Household
Fields
- Author
- Chorost, S.
- Greenwald, P.
- Janerich, D.T.
- Kiely, M.
- Mckneally, M.F.
- Melamed, M.R.
- Thompson, W.D.
- Tucci, C.
- Varela, L.R.
- Zaman, M.B.
- Greenwald, P.
- Type
- PSCI, PUBLICATION SCIENTIFIC
- ABST, ABSTRACT
- BIBL, BIBLIOGRAPHY
- CHAR, CHART, GRAPH, TABLE, MAPS
- ABST, ABSTRACT
- Area
- DEMPSEY,RUTH/OFFICE
- Site
- E12
- Named Organization
- NIH, Natl Inst of Health
- Request
- Stmn/R1-037
- Named Person
- Nicolaou, A.
- Master ID
- 2026223571/3912
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- Author (Organization)
- Yale Univ
- Albany Medical College
- NCI, Natl Cancer Inst
- New England Journal of Medicine
- Ny State Dept of Health
- Population Council of Mexico
- Ski, Sloan-Kettering Inst
- Univ of Southern Me
- Albany Medical College
- Litigation
- Stmn/Produced
- Characteristic
- MARG, MARGINALIA
- Date Loaded
- 05 Jun 1998
- UCSF Legacy ID
- xee46e00
Document Images
(i32'.
"IlhlF NEW 'F:NCisAialtD JK)'U,R'NAL OF M1Ft'JIC;INE
Sept. 6, 1990
LUNG CANCER AND EXPOSURE TOTOBACCO SMOKE IN THE HOUSE'HIOLD.
I)IXtcHT -I'..(ntir:RICH, 1)il):5., R'ILfD.H., l'4'. t)otr(;t:.A's TitrnMl+so.: Ptt.f)., Ltas R.
VARELA, M,.1)- YHtD,,*
IaETE'R.G~REENWALI), ttiLD..,,1)k~.f :H., S~HP.R'Rl"~, G.HDROSII'', M.S~~., L'.AT.Hh'~ I UCCI, IUS.,
MUHARSM~ADIB- ZAMAN,.M~.D., MYRON R'. MIELAN[ED j%+fLD- MAUREEN ti:[ELV;. R.N.,
ANID M~ARTIN.I". MCKNEA~hFl`; M,.D... ~
Abstract Background The relation between' passive
smokingiand lung cancer is of'great publicheadth'impor-
tance. Some'previous studies have suggested that expo-
sure to environmental i tobacco smoke in the household
can cause lung cancer, but others have foundlno effecti
Smoking by the spouse has been the' most corlnmonlyy
used measure'of this exposure.
Methods. In order to determine whether lung cancer is
associated' with exposure to tobacco smoke within the
household, we conducted a population+based case-con-
trol study of 191 patients with histologically confirmed pri-
rnary lung cancer who had never smoked' and an iequal!
number of persons withoutl lung cancer who had never
smoked. Lifetime residential histories including informa-
tion on iexposure to environmental tobacco ismoke' were
compiled and analyzed. Exposure was measured in terms
of "smoker-years," determinedlby multiplying the'number
of years in each residence by the number, of smokers in
the household.
T HE 1'972 Surgeon Ceneral'srrp(ort dealt with the
health consequences of passive srnrokinG,or envi-
ronmentail tobacco smoke for the first tinic.' Ln19$6the entire'repnrt'wasdevotedltotihe
i'ss('ie:,iit coneludedi
tdiati"involuntairy,smoking,is:a cause rnf discase includ-
ing IlJng cancer in hcalthy non-smokcrs."I Mmre tlhan~
a dozen epidemiolqgic studies tiavr asscssed the relYt-
tion bctween passive smtDking and IunG'cartccr."I''The'g findings have ranged from no detrctahle
increase in
ri5k't''I'tolarnoderate (,about ta,vofillcd)y statisticallysig-
nificant iincrcase:'' A4kost studits ha%e Eound on(v.'
small elevations in,risk, which arc frccquentdy not'sta-
tiistically signific'ant.'-"~" In a meta-analysis of aCl thc
available stiudics in:L'9£3fD, 1\':alc1',et al. filund'a sliglnly
iiocr~eas'ed risk of lu'n.G:can'ccr as:st/ci.utctd with etnvironr
mental tDtDlcco: snlnke."
We undertook tlhc current stiudv' in arr attempt to
clarify further the rol't+:of pa>;xivc s:nDt/king in causing
lumg c.arncer. Iln tlnis raport' we diseuss txIDUstnrc tcD tuo bacco smoke' in the household as a
pussih(h causc ml-
lu'nQ cancer among nolDSnl<,kons.
M. ETH O~.DS
l\Sr c:nnduclyd a Ir,pulannn-b:-d, iinli. rdi:;:llbm.rlchrd. c:rsr-
cnntrul studb in Ncw Yi:rk:tiuur/i,nni I'17i' tn: 1'1133:.'I~hr catsnsscr,tn drawn frnrn
crcrwStanditrd \lutrnpo,ht.rn Stntl.ctiral .\hn:rs
From the:De(tartmant of tpilem:oiogy, and. Rubli..ll:elth. 1'a!e t+nversn).
Sch,x,l of \tudirinr;.Neu-Huvcn. (',inn. (l).r.J.Ii the lr! o6 Suunccm
Ma.me. f'unland iW'ID.T..I: the.liyruluruun Cnun:nl , t\l-::,,. Met::cu:(*ity.
(1..V R.)..IhcN:rGomaIC.anccrln.wulr:.N'.a,hinEtrne.l).(~_tl'Go:,Ihc4cwYiurk.
St:ite Ikprtmentod Ilcalth, AthanytS.C.. c. r u thc Sh+:m.h;oncrinc \t8nwriali
Invtilu(t.VOw'i,r.kIIM.H!7., MiR'A1.I.anJlAlh'an_v.S1 d:a.a'.tiollcg'. A7han)..
,V.Y. (M.K . M.F M.I, Adlfrc., rcprmt rrqac.t,n+ 1)iE: n.h ,o the Ihp:rnt~
mcnn of 1 plc:n-litgvenJ Nuhlnc Health. YAlc I n:-r nc,Suh,"+ta( Mu.bdinr:
rXl (Zdlcge. Sr. OLEI'll ItIS);,Ncw Havcn. Cluaillt;
Surrpx)ncd in part ti)'.y frantA tl"()l cA4^Itll Jlkl R{1!I (',11_0SKl.frnnt thcNatiunal
In+btu:cxuflFBc:Jrhi
Ik.ca.oJ.
Results. Househ'odd, exposure to 25 or more smoker-
years during childhood andiadolescience doubled the risk
of lung cancer (odds ratio; 2.07; 95 percent confidence
interval, 1.16 to 3.68). Approximateljr 15' percent of the
control subjects who had never smoked reported this level
ofexposure. Household exposure of lesslhan25 smoker-
years during~childhood and adolescence did!notlincrease
the risk of, lung cancer. Exposure to a spouse's smoking~,
which constituted lessthan onethind of total, householdi
exposure on average, was not associated with an in-
crease in risk.
Conclusions- The possibility of recall bias and other
methodologic problems may influence the resudts of case-
control studies of environmental tobacco smoke. Nonethe-
less, ouriindings regarding exposure during early life sug-
gest that approximately 17'percent of lung cancers among
nonsmokers can be attributed to high levels of'exposure
to cigarette srnoke during childhood and adolescence.
(N Engl J Med 1990; 323:632'-6.).
('Buff'alo; RncLrstrr, Svrtcusr, t;tica,Rhmr::\9bam-Srh'onrctadp-
Trny, BinKhamt,tnt and gratrr New York. escludiqq the h.e bor-
oughs nfl Nr c 1"ork'', (:ity), This s;a:Graphic arra compriscs 23'rnun-
ties;.w.itluapprosimatcls 12:idiaGnnsticor:trcattncnt fiicilitiis:.:rnda
popula~.tiimba~cuf nra.rln~ 10 ntillinn por,ple. A special systrm f+rthe
rapid.ascnrtainrnrrnt nf~ casrsof IunG cancer wasrstaltlisticci in thcsc.
I2:i:fAc.ilitirs:sr, that patientscould bridrntifird and rnrnllyd assntmaf4er d:agnn.iF n pussihlc:
A'll ncw cases of lungr,ancrr(rliaqnnscd
clinicallir-,h:st duGt(..rih, nr hnth) ~rrcc rrGula:rlvidcntilird, ar ohr
partinip:uiint; hnspiLtl.. I he Nrw 11nrk St:rtr C:utrrr Rrejstrv, s.'as:
ch'eckrdlrnut{nrlv:tn irkntif-r anv.casrathatmiGlitliaor been missedl
by thc hrapitai-bnsrcl reporrtin>; ssstrmj
.
Lnf,rmari,.n nn snwkin~,s,Au:initiallpuhtaincd frrnn tlie palients'
mrdli.+al rncr,rds ,\II' Ihr c.tsr p:rtii.uta rrpnrtrd as hanine ncs-or
smoked or asfnrmrrs srnvkecs.urwhnsrsmokin,t; historv was un.
k'natsan ccrrr rr.nt::clyd bs trlrphnnr; ;it+d du ir smnking statcts was
cnnfirmr& 'll;, hc-iucludrd as.t"c,rsc" in d:r studv. a patienctiadl,n
rrsidc in,thc ';-t,ntutt% arra- hc hrtsccen NI ,u:d HQ!'vears of atr;,
ne.-cr hacr -rk<~cl mnrrthan Illllicit;:urtrrs (imnstnnkrrs)~nr~ ha%~c.
smc>krd,arsr-mc tirnr but nnt hactsmnkrct morr.lhan It10eiQarrnrsin thr 10 vrars hrlr,rr diar;panis
(furmrr ..mnkrrs); and base hern
Givrtt a dia¢nnsis ull printarN lung canrrr brtnvrcn.f uh I, 1Pfi'_); and
IDcccmhr.r:il. 1981. nhat wa:s cunhrunrtl on rrr±rauninatinn nfi thrpntha Nryical +prcimrns.:rud t
linical rtcurd>: \lidrs-.nr binck'ssrnf 1is:-
suns a r annilul,lribn adl bur liur.of lha. casr pauents. All matrriials
wcrc rrsii-rd lis intrsti~atnn wlro worrblindrd wilh rrsprcctnatie
patirnt'sinitial:diagnn.is, sntnking '.historc,.:utd other risk Gtctars.
litJrrvirws s.rrx' crmduc lyd'witlt 7fi'prrrcnt ull the rligihkpatirntae nr their cLosca ec::iLtldr
rr.l.:;ivvs.orrfrirnds,(sunrnRatt's):..
C:rmu<d .n/qrrt, svrir inrlicicluallnm:uchadtuthc patients atrd
t,arr srlcrtrd hv zrrrrnioZ thr lilrs of thr \rw \'inrk State Ihpart-
mrnt nf' \Intnr \'rhiclrs. Fhis sourrrnf controls wascnnsidrrrd
appropriarr sincr in.vns pupuLuuun-based and provided most of the
in/i+rmatiiuninrarsserv tnprfnrrn~.thc malrtiinQ; A list of pntcntic+l
unntonl suhjrrts tim rach c:rsr ptticut s.as srlnclcd rnn tlir, hasis nfl
::g<- (iai t liin Il., r a-z..and lcnuntcrd rrsidrncr. pntruti:d cnn-
trol subirris c.r rr cnntectnd liv telrphunr: Thr first eligible suhirct
crhuccas !i.und ur.malclithrcasrpati(nt in trnmsofsmnkine histor
oc~, (tnn.mtu kcrn:°. G inn:rr smnkr:r ) end who aQrrrd in participate s,aar.nrnllnd.in
:lr,.:udt. :\nUadtl:uunal rcmatc'h:nr;carilrhlb cc+nsidr'rrd .W
.
thr:i:nr r.frln:ant,dlhruu:a -- rhrispruf' intrroir.v -i.r., dirrct'
intrrn'ir.v sciih tlieprtia+nr::c cuntrul xuLjrr uvrrsus,intrn+ravsviih asurrng,urrnspnndrntA
lKhrn a surrne:ucrasr pa.tiint had tn br
intcnirsord, tcr;d.n iuttrvirwrtf a surrnt(:uc' lorhisor ht'r marhodl

Vol. 323 No. 10 THiE'NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF'MED'ICI''NE 633
control, even when the control subject was availkbk and willing to
be interviewed.. Further information on the methods used in the
study is availabteelsewhere.'y
Data werc'.colleeted for 339case-eontrolipairs. Of these, 2421 pairs
were formcr, smokers and 1i97 pairs had never smokedl Separating
the residual dfccts of direct smoking from those of passive smoking
amongiormer smokers;involLes,more complex analytic and inter-
pretational issues than does an examination of the effects of passive
smoking in thosrwho have never smoked. '17iis report is therefore
limited to persons who never smoked. Six nf the 197 pairs who hadl
never smokedlwere',mismatched in terms of the type of interview
(direct vs:surrogate) and have therefore been excluded. Thusthe, analyses reported here were based
on 191 matched case-control
pairs. A total of 129 pairs were interviewed directly;,and surrogates
were interviewadlfor 62-
All information was collected during a face-to-face interview with
use of a precoded questionnairo Case patients and control subjects
were interviewed in exactly the same fashion, and except for items
concerning the clinical aspects oflthe current medical condition,
both,groups answered the same questions.
Information about smoking',in the household was collected sepa-
rately for each residencein which the,subjeet had lived forone,ycar
or more, up to a maximum of'12 residences:,The numberof "smok-
er-years"'of exposure was calculated by multiplying the numbenof
years the subject'lived in each residenee by the number of smokers
(includinG thespouse) in th'at residence.'Che products for all resi-
dences'were summed.
Smoking,by thc spouse was also recorded separately from that by
other household!membcrs in a subsequent sectinn of the q}testion-
naire. The informaunn consisted of the number of years the spouse
had smoked'whilc living with the case patient or control subject and
the numbernf cigarrttrs smoked perday,. Smker-vears of exposure
from the spouse's smoking were calculatcdlin the same manner as
for the entire h'ouselioldl Pack-years ol' exposure from the spouse
were calculated by multiplying thcnumberof packs smoked perdary-
by the numtxrnf years that the spouse s'mnked while.living with the
suhjecr If! the subject had been married to more than one'smoker,
then the numbers of smokcr-years andipaek-ycars nfl exposure for
all spouses wore'summcd.
'I'hc qurstiontnire a lso ~inciudrd scetiims nn natHasurc tn envirtrn-
mentaLtobaeco smoke in the workplace and insoial settings out-
side the home. Ttieformat for these'qucstions differed from that
used tu eollect'data on exposure in the housrhol8i The sctmmarv
results of this analysis are presented here;: detailed findings are
aM1ailable' elsewhere.19
Statistical trchniqpcs:appropriate for the analysis of individ'ually
ntatched rasr--ountrul studies were usrd." Forclitrity of presenta-
tion, percentages were tabulated for case patients and cnntrol'sub-
jocts separately,,raahcr than for matched pairs. However, odds ra-
tios were computed on the basis of the matched' pairs. The
orntdltiunallogistic-regression model was used in the multivariate
analyscs." Comparisons of the effects of exposures that occurred
during diffl,remt'periods of the subjects' lives were based on evalua-
tion of differences-in the magnitude of appropriate logistio-regres-
siun cnctticicnts. For statistical testing of Ihese differences, we
used the varianne-cavariance matrix frum the logistic-regression
analyses.
RESULTS
Smoking by spouses contu-ibuted a large propor-
tion of lifetime exposure to environmental tobacco
smoke but'w.-ts not the ch'ief source of exposure. Table
I shows the amount of' exposure to environme.ntall
tobacco smoke (expressed in smoker-years) during',
childlhood and adolescence, during adulthood, andi
from the spouse for thc 191 control svbjFcts who hadd
never smokedl 'I"here' were only'small differences lie-
tweeit men and women. The'spouse contributed about
30 percent of the lifietime smoker-years of exposure;
the correlatiion' coefFcients for exposure from the
spouse atid lifetimr expnst'Ire were 0.37, for men and
Tablet'. Distribution of Smoker-Years of Exposure to Environ-
mental Tobacco in the Housetiold.'
c.Tt(:OtM Or. Exp-lE. AtEM wOMEM
Li(eti.me smoker-years.
mean 2'S D. 46.6:±53:7' 52.7'_42:.99
Smoker-years durmg, chddhuxd and adblescencet
Mean ±SD 15.4+_ 20:6 16.1± 16.2'
Percent of lifetime exposure 33;1 30.6
CornelYtion with lifetime exposuo:
Smokcr-years from'spouse 0'92 0.61
Mean !SD: 13.0±17:0 16.2"_16:7'
Percent ofilifetime exposure 28:0 30.7
Correlation with lifetimeexposme: 0i37 0:51'.
Smoker-yeaosduringadulthoodfromsources.otherthan spouse
Mwni:tSD
Percerubf lifetime exposure
Correl.Nonnwith lifetime exp,osure Iq;.1-±39.0
38.9 .
0:91 20.5±29:91
38:9
043
B1sed lom 43'.mate tutd 1 46 ,femate rontrol subjects ho had inever snokedd mese,.tlun tOD,
cigaueaes. Infomutionion smoker-ycurs~of caposun;m ftonsqhespaae is fer 45 nute nnd, 140:
femalecoatrat subjeets:.Smuker-years wcrt calEUlated Iby tnuhiptying the number of yeass Ne wbjett
lived.in a meidence bythe nwnberW smokersin:the hnusehold.l
tlkssnhan,21 years.nfisRe:
0.51 for women. Exposure during childhood and ado-
l'escence (<2Il years of age) contributed a similar per-
cenitage of the lifetime smok'er years but correlated
more closely with lifetime exposure (correlationcoeffi-
cien't, 0:92'for men and 0.61 for women)'. The,average
lifetime exposure was 46.6 smoker-years for -men
and 52.7 smoker-years for women. IDuring adulthood,
household exposure from sources other tihan the
spouse was somewhat greater nhan from the spouse.
Table 2 shows the odds ratios for developing lung
cancer in'relation to the degree of exposure to tobacco
smoke in the householdl for the 191 nonsmoking case-
conurol pairs. The data are stratiifledlby levels of expo-
sure (measured in smoker-years) and by the periods of
life when the exposure occurred. Exposures during
childhood and adolescence were defined as exposures
that occurred when the subjects were less than 21
years of age. Exposures during adiul't~hood include all
household exposures from1 21 years of age to the time
of diagnosis; Alt'houQh the odds ratios fiori the higher
exposure categories are somew han higher than those
for the lower categories; no clear dose-response rela-
tion is evident, andl most of the 95 percent confidence
intervals include 11.0,. For exposu'res in childhood and
adolescence,,the highest level'of exposure is associated
with the greatest elevation in risk, and the 95' percenu
confidence initerval',excludes,the nulfvalue (odds ratio;,
2.07;,95 percent confidence interval, 11.16 to 3!68),,For
the 129 cast-conoroli pairs who were interviewed di-
rectlv, the odds ratio for persons with 25 or more
smoker-years of exposure in childhood and adoles-
cence was 2.311 1 (95 percent cotrfidence interval 1. 116
to 4:61),.
With smoker-years during chiildlhoodl and adoles-
eenceandlsm'oker-year~sduu-ing adulthood treatedlascontinuous variahles amd includ'ed
simultlane!nusly in a
logistic model, each inrrcment of five smoker-years of
exposure duriniG childhood and adolescence was found
to inereasc the risk of Iun,t; cancc.r by 615 percent (95
percent continenc.eintervad0.1 to 13L2). OYa tihe other
hand, cach adcLition,tl five snac/kf-r-yc.urs ctf cx'posurc.

634
THE NEN', F,NC[:AND f O!UIRNAL O,f INtIF.151KaN t: Sept. 6, 1!1!x)
Table 2. Relation lof iSmoker-Years of Exposure to Envirtonmental I
Tobacco Smoke to the Risk of Lung Cancer among Persons Who
Never Smokedlfvlore than 100 Cigarettes.'
Mo. o.~ cNa~
Swoc[n-Y[wu ~~. P.newn QoMrRou Ooos R.m (9Sa~:CI)
CRiildhood land adolesceneet' -
0 57 (29.8) 68I(35.6)
1-24 82(42.9) 941(49.2). I.O9 (0_68- I L73:)
=25 52(29.2) 2905.2) 2.07 (1-16-3.68)
Adulthood
0.
44 (23.0)
39 (20.4).
1-24 37(19.4) 48I(25.t). 0.64 (Q.34-1121)
25-49 46 (24.1) 50(26.2) . 0:81 (0-43-1145')
50-74 36'(18.9) 32'(16.8), 1.00140 .52-I l93)
a75 28(it4.7) 22'(It.5). 1_11 (936-2:20)
Liretime
0
32(16.8)
331(17.3)'.
1-24 20(ilo.5) . 27'(I4.1). 0.7&(Q.36-1:67)
25-49 35'(18.3) 4ti'(24.t), 0.80 1(Q:43-I .50)
50-74 44 (23.0) 40(20.9) , 1.19 (Q:63-2127J
75-99 33 (it7.3) 21 (11.0). 1.80 1(Q.SD-3:90)
a1!00: 27 (n4.1) 24102.6) , L13 (Q-56-2:28)
Bised inn 191 mMOhed i!ase-cpueL paia. Cl idenotascanfide-interval. Odls niios aiesAow.n for a
penan with AWexpoaon: spcci6ed as compane4 with a Peasun with.u expxun:
(00 smokrycan):.B6nuud mundiha. pcrceou`R Jo nd,always iohl 100:
f clca tl!un ,21 yers of'a=e.
during adulthood were estimatedl to have virtualhy no
effect on risk (95 percent confidence interval, -3.3' to
+2.8 percent),. The difference in the magnitudrof the
effect between exposure during childhood and adolts,
cence and exposure during adulthood did no:t achieve
statistical significance (P = 0J2). On the basis of
the distribution of exposure levels during childhood
and ad'olescence among the control subjects and the
magnitude of the effect of early exposure, we estimate
thart approximately 17 percent of all l!ung cancers
in nonsmokers.can be attributed to exposure to pas-
sive smoke in the household during childhood and
adolescence. On the basis of the odds ratios for
the 129 case-crontrofl pairs who: were interv-iewed' di-
rectdy, approximately 19 percent of lung cancer
in nonsmokers appears to be attributabic to exposure
to environmental cigarette smoke in.childhood and
adolescence:
Since smoking by the spouse has been the most';
commonly reported measure of exposure to environ-
mental tobacco smoke, in previous studies, we exam-
inedl exposure ftom: the spouse separately, although,
exposure to environmental tobacco smoke from thee
spouse is also included in the results shown in Table 2.,
The odds ratios !br exposure frequently differed ac-
cording to the type of interview, especially for thee
da~ta onexposure:trn a spouse's smoking. Table 3 there-
fore shows the results of the analyses of exposuree
to environmentall tobacco smoke from the spouse,
separately for subjects interviewed directly and those,
for whom surrogates were intiervietved. Theodds ratio:
for the development: of lung cancer for those whoo
ever had a spouse who smuked, as compared withi
those who did not,: was 0.93 (95 percent confidence
intervaJ0.55'to 1.57) for those interviewed diirectllv: llnn
terms of smoker-years of exposure to the spouse's
smokethe results show little effect, with an odds ratio
of 1.07 ' for 25 or more smokcr-years of exposurc (!95~
percent confidence inl' 0.59 to 1.97')L Estimates
based on pack-years of exposure from the spouse were
similar to those based on smuker-years: For both
measures, there was little evidence of a trend accord-
ing to amount of exposure among, those who were
exposed.
All analyses were repeated for only the case-control
pairs farr whom we had complete and internally consis-
tenrt: da~ta for all residences and marriages. Any pair
was dropped from ahesc',analyses if data were incom-
pltte or missing for eitiher the case patient or the con~
troll subject, leaving 1'13' pairs of' nonsmokers., Our
purpose was to ensure that our conclusions were not
dependent on the particular methods we adopted to
handle inconsistencies or rnissing,ittms in the data,seti
The findings were similar to those for the entire group
of 191 pairs. The oddk ratio:for exposu!re to 25 or more
smoker-years in cl)iildhoodl and adolescence was 2.59
('95' percent confidence intierval!, 1.22 to 5.49),.
E'xposurein.tfie workplace was nncasuredby record-
ing the number of smokers who worked' with each
study subject dnriing his or her lifetime and tlie
amount of time the subjects spetnti working with
these smokers. These exposures were compared for
case patients and control subjects. Estimating the
odds ratio as a continuous variable for an equivalentv
dilherentiall of 1150 person-years of exposure gave
an odds rauio of 0.91 (95 percent confidence interval,
0.80: to I.04), indicating no evidence of ani adverse
e(Tect of environmental tobacco smoke in the work-
place. Our assessmentu of smoking in social' settings
used an un'testcd', semiq,uainnitative index in which
the case patient or crnnnroli subject used a score of
0 through 12 to indicate his or her regular exposure
to tobacco smoke in social settings dluring,each decadee
of hfe: Cumulative lifetime reported scores ramged'
from nearly 0 to more than 70. The odds raaio for am
increase of 20 un, the cumulative score: was 0.59
(:951 percent confidence interval, 0.43' to 0.8'd): O,uranalysis of exposure in social settings with
use of
this indexshowed a statistically significant inverse as-
stnciation between environmental tobacco smoke and
lung cancer.
Dascusstotv
We found a statistically significant adverse effect of
relarivel%. high levels of exposure to cnvironmcntal to-
bacco sn)nkeduring thetarly decades of life (up to the
age of 2'1). For tdiose who were exposed to 25 or more
smoker-years during their firsc two decades of life, the
risk of lung cancer doubled. This amount of exposure
is equinalent to living, with more than one smoker
throughout childhood and adolescence - a high but
not uncommon level! of exposure. An exposure, ofi
this level wasreportrd fbr approximately IS percent of
the controllQroup. By contrast, we found no adverse
clfect of expnsure to environmcntall tobacco smoke
during ad,ulthood, incl!udiing cxposure to a spouse who

VoL 323 No. 10.
THE NEW ENGLANDJOURNAL OF'MEDIiC11:E 635
Table 3. Relation of Spouse?s Smoking to the Risk of Lung Can-
cer among Persons Who Never Smoked More than 100 Ciga-
rettes, According to Type of Interview,
VNl1A.LE'
TY'E or INTERViEw
SURROGATE
nI ~rn+io~(93%~.11
Ever tad a spouse who smoked
No
-
Ya 0s93 (0:S5-I'.57) 0A4 (0:19-1.02)
Smoker-years of exposure fmm spouse .
0
1-24 0.78 {0l41-1.SID) 0.33 (0 1 II -1.05)'
s2,S 1.07 (0.59-1.97) 0.33 (0.12'-0.95) ,
Park'-ya.rs o( exposure from spouse
0
1-24 0.71 (0.37-1.35)' 0.16' (0.04-0.62)
25-49 0!98 (0.47-2.05) 0i68 (0.18-2160)
a50: 1.10 (0:47-256) 0;20 (0i03- t .22)
BneA w 129cne-eoohol ip.in uneerviewMdueayaod 59 pain f« wlnm wlmEalimweee ..
imerrirwed. Th[e,ofuhe 191 ippGy~weie~exehded'hec.weforune nsmbenufithe~pair Yle/e ~wn '.
miasina in(omwiua atww whethrr the'E.Eject,h.d in spomse whu smehed: D.meu vynkrl
yeaniof Kapoane weac,.r.ilatik fu'129 cee-<onud p.ias with dirccl iMCrnewE md.36 pain
widl sweqpt.iMerview.: Dtla iua ip.A+yeanOf eapwurc.wese w.ilabk(v 122 pain with
~
dlfM'iMerYKw{ NQ f.1 p/ill'wp111fWTo~ae'~160CT'icwss eIN1e11G1esicoRfNdeOCt',IIIYfY11. Odds
ruies'~ue.slnwn fa. ~perwn'wiN idlec.poswe specifiada.nxnpnN'wdh iE iprnun with mu
espoaarr to 1a ilpouse whol
amnkcd..
smoked. Although problems of recall and other poten-
tial biases may have influenced the results, our data
suggest that exposure inlearly life maybe a limibed but
important contributor to the' risk of lung cancer in
nonsmokers. A'previous study withia small number of
subjects found little evidence of an elevated risk
of lung,cancer among nonsmokers whose parents had
smoked.la'Childreni of parents who smoke have been
shown to beespecial'ly susceptible to respiratory prob-
lems that occur soon after expos'ure to environmental
tobacco smoke.2 This: type of susceptibility might
initiate changes that eventually lead to lung cancer
when the exposed children become adults, but we
know of nospecific mecha~nismitliat'would''explain our
findings.
We found no adirerse effects of exposure to tobaccoo
smoke in the workplace, alithougli we did not have,
enough information about the level of exposure in
tlae workplace to assess the precision of our measure-
ments. The apparent protective effect of exposure
in social settings is difficult to explain. lluring, the
course of this study, regulations ini New l''ork began
to restirict'smoking in the workplace and in social'set-
tings such as restaurants. We did noranticipate this
development' and cannot estimate fiow much thc
awareness of these new restmictions might have af-
ketedl the responses of the study subjects or thcir
surrogates.
Evidence is clearly mounting, tihat tobacco smoke
inhaled passively by nonsmokers is potentiadly car-
cinogenic. In a recent stt'tdy, Maclure ct ad." found'd
elevated, levels of carcinogens in the blood of passive
smokers. Levels of hemoglobin adducts of 4-aminobi-
phenyl'',andladdiucts of 3-aminobiphenyl were signifi-
cantly elevated in subjects with confirmed exposure.
The validity' of this finding was supported by addi-
tional' evidence tha~t showed a sharp decline in tihe
levels of adducts among smokers who quit.2t
At present, infurmartion on past exposure to envi-
ronmental tobacco smoke can be obtained only by
interview. The available biologic markers, sulch~as co-
tinine, cannot be used to confirm exposure that oc-
curred years or decades earlier. The'use of interviews
to obtain al lifetime history of exposure to passive
smoking,requires that the q'uestionnaire be structured
and'the interview techniques be standardized so that
all subjects are interviewed in the same way. We tookk
steps to ensure',such standardizationi Two:recent re-
ports may lead to improvedi ways to measure lifetime
exposure to environmental tobacco smoke by' means
of interviews.rt~` ' In one of these studies,, which at-
tempted to evaluatetihe reliability of interview data'by'
repeat interviews, information on, exposure dntring,
childhood was found to be very reliablr."
It was necessary to use surrogate, respondents for
about one third of the interviews, usually because the
patients were too ill to, be interviewed. To minimize
potential bias, surrogates were adso interviewed fbr the
matched control subject's, and'scparate estimates were
calculated for respondents interviewed directly and
surrogate respondents. We used equal care in all types
of'interviews and in all subject areas covered in, the',
interviews; however, the data we obtained in inter-
views witlh, surrogartes still differed somewhat from
those obtained in direct intierviews. l'naccurate report-
inq' of exposure tends to bias odds ratios toward the
null value unless al systematic bias is present. Data
from, surrogaterespfmdentsare likclyto introduce
random error, because of the surrogate's lack of de-
tailed knowledge of the subject's exposure. On the
other hand, it is'', possible tliat' the surrogates for pa-
tients with,lung cancer might tend to underreport the
ex'posure contributed by their, own smoking to a great-
er ex~tent than surrogatrs ftor control subjects.,S'uch al
dilterence could mask a''n actual increase in risk or
reverse the direction of the association. The findings~
shown in "1'able 3 indicate that the use of data from
surrogates may hav.e lcd',to an undcrestiina(iion of the
elfect of exposure leom, the spouse. Alrchnugih' our.re-
sults for exposure due'to smoking by the spouse differ
from those of earlier sutdies,'" our f ndings regarding
other types of household exposure support, the conclu-
sion that exposure to! environmental tobaccfu smokee
can cause lung,cancer.
Akiba et al.,"' Dltlagar et, aV.,`"and Carfinkel" have
reported elevations in risk of 30 percent, 50' per-
cent, attd 110 perccn'trespcctively, asstociated with ex-
posure to a spouse's smoking; none of these increases
were statistically significant. With the exception of
Chan et al.tr and Koo et al." in HonG' Kong, these and
most other investigators have reportcd point estimates
that'suggest an increased risk for those exposed. Thee
duration of exposure, as measurcdi by the number
of years the spouse smoked while livinl the sub-
ject did not have a stacistically', signifcant': elrect in
our data Two studies tfiat, used the same measure

636~
THE NF.l4r' ENGLAIVU Jp'URNAI: OF PvtIED1ICINft
of exposure als'o failed& to exclude the null value-N9
Garfinkel et al:,'using a,d'ifferent measure for duration
of exposure (husband's smoking in the last 5 and
25 years), found one significant association among
t'ihelarge number examined. Exposure due to smoking
by the spouse, expressedl in; terims of pack-yea'rs
while the spouse was' living with the subject, was
fbund not to be~signiificantily associated with lung can-
cer. Using a comparable measure of exposure, Tricho-
poulos et al.s reported relatively large increasesin
risk (greater than t'wofold).. Perhaps our data do not
show that'smoking by the spouse increased the risk by
itself because smoking by the spouse, made up only
about' one' third of the subjects' lifetime exposure
to environmental tobacco smoke. It is also possiblee
that physical circumstances and differences in study
areas, the' size of residences, ven'tilation and other
important physical aspects of the living'conditions; as
well as soeial' habits that affect exposure within the
family, will'ineed to be measured and analyzed before
the:diilerences in findings among the studies can be
reconciled.
.
The evidence we report lends further supporn to the
observation thart passive smoking may increase the
risk of subseqpent lvng,cancer, and it suggests that it
may be particularly important to protect children and
adDlescen'ts from, this enNironmental I hazard.
We are indE`bted to A'ndreas Nicolaou for his assistance with the
computer programming used'in our analyses.
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