Smoking, air pollution, and the high rates of lung cancer in Shenyang, China

Journal Article · Tue Dec 05 23:00:00 EST 1989 · JNCI, Journal of the National Cancer Institute; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/81.23.1800· OSTI ID:5043678

Xu, Z Y; Blot, W J; Xiao, H P; Wu, A; Feng, Y P; Stone, B J; Sun, J; Ershow, A G; Henderson, B E; Fraumeni, Jr, J F ^[1]

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1. Liaoning Public Health and Anti-Epidemic Station, Shenyang (China)

A case-control study involving interviews with 1,249 patients with lung cancer and 1,345 population-based controls was conducted in Shenyang, an industrial city in northeastern China, where mortality rates are high among men and women. Cigarette smoking was found to be the principal cause of lung cancer in this population, accounting for 55% of the lung cancers in males and 37% in females. The attributable risk percentage among females is high compared to elsewhere in China, largely because of a higher prevalence of smoking among women. After adjustment for smoking, there were also significant increases in lung cancer risk associated with several measures of exposure to air pollutants. Risks were twice as high among those who reported smoky outdoor environments, and increased in proportion to years of sleeping on beds heated by coal-burning stoves (kang), and to an overall index of indoor air pollution. Threefold increases in lung cancer risk were found among men who worked in the nonferrous smelting industry, where heavy exposures to inorganic arsenic have been reported. The associations with both smoking and indoor air pollution were stronger for squamous cell and small cell carcinomas than for adenocarcinoma of the lung. Risks due to smoking or air pollution were not greatly altered by adjustment for consumption of fresh vegetables or sources of beta carotene or retinol, prior chronic lung diseases, or education level. The findings suggest that smoking and environmental pollution combine to account for the elevated rates of lung cancer mortality in Shenyang.

• OSTI ID: 5043678
• Journal Information: JNCI, Journal of the National Cancer Institute; (USA), Journal Name: JNCI, Journal of the National Cancer Institute; (USA) Vol. 81:23; ISSN 0027-8874; ISSN JJIND
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560300* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AEROSOLS
AIR POLLUTION
ANIMALS
ARSENIC
ASIA
BODY
CARCINOGENESIS
CARCINOMAS
CHINA
COLLOIDS
DISEASES
DISPERSIONS
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE
EPIDEMIOLOGY
LUNGS
MAMMALS
MAN
MORTALITY
NEOPLASMS
OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
ORGANS
PATHOGENESIS
POLLUTION
PRIMATES
RESIDUES
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
RISK ASSESSMENT
SEMIMETALS
SMOKES
SOLS
TOBACCO SMOKES
VERTEBRATES