Abstract
Objective
Most studies on tobacco smoking have focused on daily-smokers. Occasional smokers, who have never smoked daily, have often been included in the reference group of never-smokers. We have investigated the association between occasional smoking and cancer of the bladder, kidney, pancreas, upper aero-digestive tract and lung.
Methods
The study population consisted of 158,488 persons, who provided information on occasional smoking, within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), 780 of whom developed a smoking-related cancer. We used Cox proportional hazard model, stratified by gender and country to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRR) for smoking-related cancers.
Results
The results suggest that occasional smokers have a higher risk of bladder cancer (IRR: 1.92, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.93–3.98) and of the major smoking-related cancers combined (IRR: 1.24, 95% CI 0.80–1.94) than true never-smokers. Including occasional smokers in the reference group resulted in a lower risk estimate for former and current smokers.
Conclusions
Occasional smoking should be discouraged.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- IRR:
-
Incidence rate ratio
- CI:
-
Confidence intervals
- EPIC:
-
European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition
- IARC:
-
International Agency for Research on Cancer
References
IARC (2004) IARC monographs Vol. 83: tobacco smoke and involuntary smoking. IARC, Lyon
Hammond EC, Horn D (1958) Smoking and death rates; report on forty-four months of follow-up of 187,783 men. II. Death rates by cause. J Am Med Assoc 166:1294–1308
Hammond EC, Horn D (1958) Smoking and death rates; report on forty-four months of follow-up of 187,783 men. I. Total mortality. J Am Med Assoc 166:1159–1172
Nordlund LA, Carstensen JM, Pershagen G (1999) Are male and female smokers at equal risk of smoking-related cancer: evidence from a Swedish prospective study. Scand J Public Health 27:56–62
Luoto R, Uutela A, Puska P (2000) Occasional smoking increases total and cardiovascular mortality among men. Nicotine Tob Res 2:133–139
Hovengen R, Haug K (2003) Occasional smoking during pregnancy and after birth: a challenge for mother and child health care. Eur J Public Health 13:46–47
Riboli E, Hunt KJ, Slimani N, et al (2002) European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC): study populations and data collection. Public Health Nutr 5:1113–1124
Greenland S (1995) Dose-response and trend analysis in epidemiology: alternatives to categorical analysis. Epidemiology 6:356–365
Holmen TL, Barrett-Connor E, Holmen J, Bjermer L (2000) Adolescent occasional smokers, a target group for smoking cessation? the Nord-Trondelag Health Study, Norway, 1995–1997. Prev Med 31:682–690
Maggi S, Linn G, Marion SA (2005) Are questions from the Italian National Health Survey adequate to measure prevalence of smoking among teens. Subst Use Misuse 40:779–788
Hassmiller KM, Warner KE, Mendez D, Levy DT, Romano E (2003) Nondaily smokers: who are they? Am J Public Health 93:1321–1327
Lindstrom M, Isacsson SO (2002) Long term and transitional intermittent smokers: a longitudinal study. Tob Control 11:61–67
Akiba S, Hirayama T (1990) Cigarette smoking and cancer mortality risk in Japanese men and women—results from reanalysis of the six-prefecture cohort study data. Environ Health Perspect 87:19–26
Tuyns AJ, Esteve J, Raymond L, et al (1988) Cancer of the larynx/hypopharynx, tobacco and alcohol: IARC international case-control study in Turin and Varese (Italy), Zaragoza and Navarra (Spain), Geneva (Switzerland) and Calvados (France). Int J Cancer 41:483–491
Engeland A, Andersen A, Haldorsen T, Tretli S (1996) Smoking habits and risk of cancers other than lung cancer: 28 years’ follow-up of 26,000 Norwegian men and women. Cancer Causes Control 7:497–506
Brennan P, Bogillot O, Greiser E, et al (2001) The contribution of cigarette smoking to bladder cancer in women (pooled European data). Cancer Causes Control 12:411–417
Brennan P, Buffler PA, Reynolds P, et al (2004) Secondhand smoke exposure in adulthood and risk of lung cancer among never smokers: a pooled analysis of two large studies. Int J Cancer 109:125–131
Vineis P, Airoldi L, Veglia P, et al (2005) Environmental tobacco smoke and risk of respiratory cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in former smokers and never smokers in the EPIC prospective study. BMJ 330:277
Hovengen R, Haug K (2003) Occasional smoking during pregnancy and after birth: a challenge for mother and child health care. Eur J Public Health 13:46–47
Hovengen R, Nordhagen R (2004) [Occasional smoking–an increasing problem]. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 124:3222–3223
Acknowledgements
We thank all the participants in EPIC.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
The work described in the paper was carried out with the financial support of the “Europe Against Cancer” Programme of the European Commission (SANCO); Deutsche Krebshilfe; German Cancer Research Center; German Federal Ministry of Education and Research; Danish Cancer Society; Italian Association for Research on Cancer; Italian National Research Council; Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports; National Cancer Registry and the Regional Cancer Registries Amsterdam, East and Maastricht of the Netherlands; Norwegian Cancer Society; Research Council of Norway; World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF); Swedish Cancer Society; Swedish Scientific Council; Regional Government of Skåne, Sweden.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bjerregaard, B.K., Raaschou-Nielsen, O., Sørensen, M. et al. The effect of occasional smoking on smoking-related cancers. Cancer Causes Control 17, 1305–1309 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-006-0068-9
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-006-0068-9