Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Smoking more than 30 cigarettes daily increased the risk of squamous cell carcinoma by 62.7% in women and 53.4% in men while small cell carcinoma risk was increased by 16.8% in women and 103.5% in men. Also when a multivitamin was taken daily, lung cancer risk was reduced by 43%.
Lung cancer affects an estimated 350,679 Americans (1) and causes more deaths than the next three most common cancers combined (colon, breast and prostate) (3) at a cost of $9.6 billion per year to our healthcare system (2). Lung cancer also has a “dismal” 5-year survival rate of approximately 14%, has shown no improvement over the past 30 years (4), and is expected to cause 10 million deaths per year worldwide by the year 2030 (5).
Lung cancer is not just one type of cancer, but affects several types of cells in the lungs. The three most common types are squamous cell carcinoma, small cell lung carcinoma (9), and adenocarcinoma (6, 7, 8). Having a better idea of how smoking affects different cells in the lungs can help improve research on prevention and treatment of lung cancer.
Now a new study (10) provides more insight into the risk of different types of lung cells and lung cancer. In the study, researchers analyzed data from the SYNERGY project, a pooled analysis of 13,169 lung cancer cases (10,653 males, 2,516 females) and 16,010 patients without lung cancer (12,758 males, 3,252 females) from Europe and Canada (11).
Regarding lung cancer in women, adenocarcinoma was the most common type of lung cancer (50.2% of women). Women smoking more than 30 cigarettes per day were found to have a 62.7% increased risk of squamous cell carcinoma, a 108% increased risk of small cell carcinoma, and a 16.8% increased risk of adenocarcinoma compared to those who had never smoked (p < 0.001). For men, squamous cell carcinoma was the most common type of lung cancer (53.4% of men). Men smoking more than 30 cigarettes per day were found to have a 103.5% increased risk of squamous cell carcinoma, 111.3% increased risk for small cell carcinoma, and a 21.9% increased risk for adenocarcinoma (p < 0.001).
Lung cancer affected 2.1% of men who had never smoked and 24.2% of women who had never smoked., with adenocarcinoma being the most common type of lung cancer in both men (57.6%) and women (70.1%). While overall lung cancer risk starts to decline “soon” after quitting (within 2-5 years) by 18% in men and 6.7% in women (p < 0.001) , their risks never reach the same as those who had never smoked even 35 years after quitting smoking. For the researchers, “we present a consolidated assessment of the impact of smoking on relative risks of different subtypes of lung cancer” and that “The risk pattern from this large collection of retrospective studies is in line with prospective studies.”
When looking at ways to help maintain lung health, research (12) has shown significant decreases in lung cancer risk with multivitamin use. Specifically, current daily use of a multivitamin decreased lung cancer risk 43% and past daily use of a multivitamin reduced lung cancer risk by 32%, suggesting possible future recommendations of multivitamin use for overall lung health.
Source: Pesch, Beate, Benjamin Kendzia, Per Gustavsson, Karl‐Heinz Jöckel, Georg Johnen, Hermann Pohlabeln, Ann Olsson et al. “Cigarette smoking and lung cancer—relative risk estimates for the major histological types from a pooled analysis of case–control studies.” International journal of cancer 131, no. 5 (2012): 1210-1219.
Posted October 5, 2015.
Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com.
References:
- Ries LAG, Eisner MP, Kosary CL, Hankey BF, Miller BA, Clegg L, Mariotto A, Feuer EJ, Edwards BK (eds). SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2002, National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD
- “Lung Cancer Fact Sheet” posted on the American Lung Association Website
- “Cost of Lung Cancer” posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website
- Jemal A, Murray T, Ward E, Samuels A, Tiwari RC, Ghafoor A, et al. Cancer statistics, 2005. CA Cancer J Clin 2005;55:10-30
- Proctor RN. Tobacco and the global cancer epidemic. Nat Rev Cancer 2001;1:82-6.
- Khuder SA, Dayal HH, Mutgi AB, Willey JC, Dayal G. Effect of cigarette smoking on major histological types of lung cancer in men. Lung Cancer. Oct; 1998 22(1):15–21
- Devesa SS, Bray F, Vizcaino AP, Parkin DM. International lung cancer trends by histologic type: male:female differences diminishing and adenocarcinoma rates rising. Int J Cancer. Nov 1; 2005 117(2):294-9
- Govindan R, Page N, Morgensztern D, Read W, Tierney R, Vlahiotis A, Spitznagel EL, Piccirillo J. Changing epidemiology of small-cell lung cancer in the United States over the last 30 years: analysis of the surveillance, epidemiologic, and end results database. J Clin Oncol. Oct 1; 2006 24(28):4539–44. [PubMed: 17008692]
- Read WL, Page NC, Tierney RM, Piccirillo JF, Govindan R. The epidemiology of bronchioloalveolar carcinoma over the past two decades: analysis of the SEER database. Lung Cancer. Aug; 2004 45(2):137–42
- Pesch B. Cigarette smoking and lung cancer–relative risk estimates for the major histological types from a pooled analysis of case-control studies. Int J Cancer. 2012 Sep 1;131(5):1210-9. doi: 10.1002/ijc.27339. Epub 2011 Dec 14
- Olsson AC, Gustavsson P, Kromhout H, Peters S, Vermeulen R, Bruske I, Pesch B, Siemiatycki J, Pintos J, Bruning T, Cassidy A, Wichmann HE, et al. Exposure to diesel motor exhaust and lung cancer risk in a pooled analysis from case-control studies in Europe and Canada. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. Apr 1; 2011 183(7):941–8
- Flores FG. Multi-Vitamins, Folate, and Green Vegetables Protect Against Gene Promoter Methylation in the Aerodigestive Tract of Smokers. Cancer Research 2010. Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-09-3410
