Smoking and passive smoking in relation to lung cancer in women

In a population based case-control study the association between female lung cancer and some possible etiological agents was investigated; 210 incident cases in Stockholm county, Sweden, and 209 age-matched population controls were interviewed about their exposure experiences according to a structured questionnaire. A strong association between smoking habits and lung cancer risk was found for all histological subgroups. Relative risks for those who had smoked daily during at least one year ranged between 3.1 for adenocarcinoma to 33.7 for small cell carcinoma in a comparison with never-smokers. All histological types showed strong dose-response relationships for average daily cigarette consumption, duration of smoking, and cumulative smoking. There was no consistent effect of parental smoking on the lung cancer risk in smokers. Only 38 cases had never been regular smokers and the risk estimates for exposure to environmental tobacco smoke were inconclusive. The high relative risks of small cell and squamous cell carcinoma associated with smoking may have implications for risk assessments regarding passive smoking.