Smoking
still causes large proportion of cancer deaths in the United States
A new American Cancer Society study finds that despite
significant drops in smoking rates, cigarettes continue to cause about three in
ten cancer deaths in the United States. The study, appearing in the Annals
of Epidemiology, concludes that efforts to reduce smoking prevalence as
rapidly as possible should be a top priority for the U.S. public health efforts
to prevent cancer deaths.
More than 30 years ago, a groundbreaking analysis by famed
British researchers, Richard Doll and Richard Peto, calculated that 30 percent
of all cancer deaths in the United States were caused by smoking.
To provide a well-documented estimate for cigarette smoking and
cancer mortality in the contemporary United States, researchers led by Eric J.
Jacobs, PhD, looked at the most recent data on smoking rates from the National
Health Interview Survey (NHIS) as well as data on the risks of smoking derived
from epidemiologic studies, to estimate what is called the population
attributable fraction (PAF), described as the proportion of cancer deaths in
the population caused by smoking.
The authors found that the PAF for active cigarette smoking was
28.7% when estimated conservatively, including only deaths from the 12 cancers
currently formally established as caused by smoking by the US Surgeon General.
When estimated more comprehensively, including excess deaths from all cancers,
the PAF was 31.7% percent. These estimates do not include additional potential
cancer deaths from environmental tobacco smoke or other type of tobacco use
such as cigars, pipes, or smokeless tobacco.
The authors say despite important declines in smoking
prevalence, the PAF for smoking and cancer mortality estimated for 2010 is
similar to the 30% estimated by Doll and Peto more than 30 years ago. But that
does not indicate that declines in smoking rates have not made important
contributions to reducing cancer mortality.
Rather, other factors have
contributed to increasing the PAF, including the addition of new cancers to the
list of those counted as caused by smoking, increases over time in death rates
from lung cancer among female smokers, and progress in reducing deaths from
cancer caused by factors other than smoking.
"Our results indicate that cigarette smoking causes about
three in 10 cancer deaths in the contemporary United States. Reducing smoking
prevalence as rapidly as possible should be a top priority for US public health
efforts to prevent future cancer deaths."
Story
Source:
The above story is based on materials provided
by American Cancer Society. Note: Materials may be edited for
content and length.
Journal
Reference:
Eric J. Jacobs, Christina C. Newton, Brian D. Carter, Diane
Feskanich, Neal D. Freedman, Ross L. Prentice, W. Dana Flanders. What proportion of cancer
deaths in the contemporary United States is attributable to cigarette smoking? Annals of Epidemiology, 2014;
DOI: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2014.11.008
Cite
This Page:
American Cancer Society. "Smoking still causes large
proportion of cancer deaths in the United States." Science Daily,
9 December 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141209101306.htm>.