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Lifestyle factors and lung cancer risk among never smokers in the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (CanPath)

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A Correction to this article was published on 18 April 2022

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Abstract

Background

Although smoking is the primary risk factor for lung cancer, 15–25% of lung cancers occur in never smokers. Emerging evidence suggests lifestyle factors are associated with lung cancer risk, but few studies among never smokers exist.

Methods

A case–control study of never smokers within the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health was conducted. At recruitment, participants provided data on lifestyle, health history and sociodemographic factors. Incident lung cancers were identified through linkage with administrative health records. Cases (n = 190) were matched to controls (n = 760) on age, sex, and follow-up time. Logistic regression analyses, adjusted for matching factors and annual income, were used to identify associations between lifestyle factors and lung cancer risk.

Results

Consumption of < 5 servings of fruits and vegetables/day was associated with higher risk of lung cancer (OR  1.50, 95% CI 1.03–2.17). Short or long sleep (≤ 6 or > 9 h/night) was also associated with increased risk of lung cancer (OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.01–2.29). No associations were observed for obesity measures, alcohol consumption, or physical activity.

Conclusion

Our findings provide evidence of a potential role between sleep, fruits and vegetable consumption, and lung cancer risk in a pan-Canadian, non-smoking population. However, the sample size is modest, and further investigation is needed.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request and with approval from the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the support of all participants in the CanPath study who donated their time, personal health history and biological samples to this project. We also thank the CanPath and regional cohort team members for data collection and management. Regional cohorts included Alberta’s Tomorrow Project: https://myatp.ca, BC Generations Project: https://bcgenerationsproject.ca, CARTaGENE: https://cartagene.qc.ca/en, the Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health: https://atlanticpath.ca, and the Ontario Health Study: https://ontariohealthstudy.ca. Alberta’s Tomorrow Project is only possible because of the commitment of its research participants, its staff and its funders: Alberta Health, Alberta Cancer Foundation, Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and Health Canada, and substantial in kind funding from Alberta Health Services. The views expressed herein represent the views of the author(s) and not of Alberta’s Tomorrow Project or any of its funders.

Funding

This work was supported by Grants to Dr. Murphy from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (Grant #17644) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Grant #162510). The data used in this research were made available by the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health funded by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and Health Canada, and by regional funders and host institutions including BC Cancer, Alberta Health Services, Alberta Cancer Foundation, Alberta Health, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Dalhousie University, University of Toronto, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) Sainte-Justine, Genome Quebec, and Genome Canada. The views expressed herein represent the views of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Health Canada or the provincial Governments. Parts of this material are based on data and information provided by Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario). The opinions, reviews, view and conclusions reported in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario). No endorsement by Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario) is intended or should be inferred.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Control Research, BC Cancer, 2-107 675 W 10th Ave, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 1L3, Canada

    Rachel A. Murphy, Maryam Darvishian, Trevor J. B. Dummer & Parveen Bhatti

  2. School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada

    Rachel A. Murphy, Jia Qi, Yixian Chen, Nhu Le & Parveen Bhatti

  3. Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Oncology, Cross Cancer Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Quincy Chu

  4. Alberta’s Tomorrow Project, Cancer Care Alberta, Alberta Health Services, Calgary, AB, T2T 0J6, Canada

    Jennifer Vena

  5. Atlantic PATH, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

    Ellen Sweeney, Vanessa DeClercq, Melanie R. Keats & Yunsong Cui

  6. School of Health and Human Performance, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

    Scott A. Grandy & Melanie R. Keats

  7. Ontario Institute of Cancer Research, 661 University Avenue, Suite 510, Toronto, ON, M5G 0A3, Canada

    Philip Awadalla

  8. Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Medical Science Building, 1 King’s College Circle, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada

    Philip Awadalla

  9. Department of Oncology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Darren R. Brenner

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  1. Rachel A. Murphy
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  2. Maryam Darvishian
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  14. Philip Awadalla
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Correspondence to Rachel A. Murphy.

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RAM is a consultant to Pharmavite LLC. All other authors report no conflict of interest.

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Murphy, R.A., Darvishian, M., Qi, J. et al. Lifestyle factors and lung cancer risk among never smokers in the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (CanPath). Cancer Causes Control 33, 913–918 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-022-01566-x

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