[Estimation of latency period of lung cancer]

A case-control study with time-related factors was conducted to estimate the latency period of lung cancer. This study included 168 incident male cases of lung cancer histologically confirmed and 336 control patients with non-neoplastic diseases. All patients were interviewed in the hospital wards from May 1987 to May 1990. Data concerning smoking, occupation, method of house heating and cooking fuel used from twelve time windows of looking forward and diet were obtained for three periods of time. A synthetical analysis of forward measures and backward measures were applied. By means of calculating accumulated effective exposure score and excess exposure fraction, the latency period of lung cancer was estimated using multivariate model. Latency of lung cancer is 54.48 years for indoor air pollution, and 56.17 years for total smoking. From estimating latency period of lung cancer from multivariate analysis, it was found that the latency of lung cancer could be affected by the effects of other factors. Therefore, measures which prolong latency period may be of use in the prevention of lung cancer.