[The influence of smoking on the development of various subtypes of pulmonary carcinoma]

The influence of smoking on the development of pulmonary carcinoma of various histological subtypes was analyzed in 244 primary and 84 metastatic lung cancer patients. The new WHO classification was used for histological diagnosis. The relative risk was calculated by the odds ratio. It was found that all the squamous, small-and large-cell carcinomas were derived from smokers with relative risks of 27.8, 7.5 and 5.6, respectively. On the other hand, adenocarcinoma had very little, if any, relationship with smoking, the relative risk being 1.5 in men and 1.3 in women. The high-risk group for squamous cell carcinoma in men was defined with a regression line of y (duration of smoking) on x (number of cigarettes per day) as y = -0.24 x + 48.6.