Total tobacco consumption in an unselected bronchial carcinoma population

The smoking habits of an epidemiologically unselected material of patients with bronchial carcinoma in the Swedish county of Uppsala were studied in detail. Out of 273 bronchial carcinoma patients in the period 1971-1976, 82% were smokers - 96% of the males and 34% of the females. In a control material 10-15 years earlier, there were 67% male and 26% female smokers. The difference in males is statistically significant, but not in females. However, 71% of younger female patients were smokers and this difference from the controls is statistically significant. Ninety-eight per cent of the males with epidermoid carcinoma and small cell carcinoma were smokers. Ninety per cent of the 40 males with adenocarcinoma were smokers, in contrast to 24% of the 38 females. The smoking habits in females with adenocarcinoma were the same as in the female population of the county 15 years earlier. The mean age at the start of smoking was 19 years. The mean total tobacco consumption was 207 kg, 215 kg for males and 130 kg for females, and the mean average consumption per year 4.6 kg. Fifty-four per cent of the males smoked both cigarettes and pipe tobacco.