We examined the relationship of cigarette tar yield and other cigarette-usage characteristics in current smokers to the incidence of lung cancer in a study population of 79,946 Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program members, aged 30–89 years, who completed a detailed, self-administered, smoking-habit questionnaire during the years 1979 through 1985. Mean length of follow-up was 5.6 years. There were 302 incident lung cancers, of which 89 percent occurred in current or former smokers. The tar yield of the current cigarette brand was unassociated with lung cancer incidence (relative risk [RR]=1.02 per 1 mg tar-yield in men, 95 percent confidence interval [CI]=0.98–1.05; RR=0.99, CI=0.96–1.03 in women). However, in long-term (>20 years) smokers, the risk of lung cancer was decreased in women who had smoked filtered cigarettes for 20 or more years relative to lifelong smokers of unfiltered cigarettes (RR=0.36, CI=0.18–0.75), but not in men who had smoked filtered cigarettes for 20 or more years (RR=1.04, CI=0.58–1.87).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Hammond EC, Garfinkel L, Seidman H, Lew EA. “Tar” and nicotine content of cigarette smoke in relation to death rates. Environ Res 1976; 12: 263–74.
Stellman SD, Garfinkel L. Lung cancer risk is proportional to cigarette tar yield: Evidence from a prospective study. Prev Med 1989; 18: 518–25.
Garfinkel L, Stellman SD. Smoking and lung cancer in women: Findings in a prospective study. Cancer Res 1988; 48: 6951–5.
Higgenbottom T, Shipley MJ, Rose G. Cigarettes, lung cancer, and coronary heart disease: The effects of inhalation and tar yield. J Epidemiol Community Health 1982; 36: 113–7.
Hawthorne VM, Fry JS. Smoking and health: The association between smoking behavior, total mortality, and cardiorespiratory disease in west central Scotland. J Epidemiol Community Health 1978; 32: 260–6.
Rimington J. The effects of filters on the incidence of lung cancer in cigarette smokers. Environ Res 1981; 24: 162–6.
Lubin JH, Blot WJ, Berrno F, et al. Patterns of lung cancer risk according to type of cigarette smoked. Int J Cancer 1984; 33: 569–76.
Wilcox HB, Schoenberg JB, Mason TJ, Bill JS, Stemhagen A. Smoking and lung cancer: Risk as a function of cigarette tar content. Prev Med 1988; 17: 263–72.
Kaufman DW, Palmer JR, Rosenberg PS, Warshauer E, Shapiro S. Tar content of cigarettes in relation to lung cancer. Am J Epidemiol 1989; 129: 703–11.
Bross IDJ, Gibson R. Risks of lung cancer in smokers who switch to filter cigarettes. Am J Public Health 1968; 58: 1396–403.
Dean G, Lee PN, Todd GF, Wicken AJ. Report on a second retrospective mortality study in north-east England. Tobacco Research Council 1977; Research Paper 14, Part 1.
Wynder EL, Stellman SD. Impact of long-term filter cigarette usage on lung and larynx cancer risk: A casecontrol study. JNCI 1979; 62: 471–7.
Benhamou S, Benhamou E, Tirmarche M, Flamant R. Lung cancer and use of cigarettes: A French case-control study. JNCI 1985; 71: 1169–75.
Wynder EL, Kabat GC. The effect of low-yield cigarette smoking on lung cancer risk. Cancer 1988; 62: 1223–30.
Petitti DB, Friedman GD. Cardiovascular and other discases in smokers of low yield cigarettes. J Chronic Dis 1985; 38: 581–7.
Friedman GD, Sidney S, Polen MR. Smoking habits among multiphasic examinees, 1979 to 1984. West J Med 1986; 145: 651–6.
Friedman GD, Tekawa I, Klatsky AL, Sidney S, Armstrong MA. Alcohol drinking and cigarette smoking: An exploration of the association in middle-aged men and women. Drug Alcohol Depend 1991; 27: 283–90.
Federal Trade Commission. Report of “Tar” and Nicotine Content of the Smoke of 167 Varieties of Cigarettes. Washington, D.C.: Federal Trade Commission, 1978.
Federal Trade Commission. Report of “Tar” and Nicotine Content of the Smoke of 187 Varieties of Cigarettes. Washington, D.C.: Federal Trade Commission, 1981.
Federal Trade Commission. Report of “Tar” and Nicotine Content of the Smoke of 208 Varieties of Cigarettes. Washington, D.C.: Federal Trade Commission, 1983.
Arellano M, Peterson G, Petitti DB, Smith R. The California automated mortality linkage system. Am J Public Health 1984; 74: 1324–30.
SAS Institute Inc. SAS User's Guide: Basics Version. 5th ed. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc., 1985.
Breslow NE, Day NE. Statistic Methods in Cancer Research. Vol II. Lyons, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer, 1987; IARC Sci. Pub. No. 82.
Cox DR, Oakes D. Analyses of Survival Data. New York: Chapman and Hall, 1984.
Petitti DB, Friedman GD. Evidence for compensation in smokers of low yield cigarettes. Int J Epidemiol 1983; 12: 487–9.
Benowitz N, Feinleib M, Feyerabend C, et al. Is there a future for lower-tar-yield cigarettes? Lancet 1985; 2: 1111–4.
Peto R. Influence of dose and duration of smoking on lung cancer rates. In: Zaridze D, Peto R, eds. Tobacco: A Major International Health Hazard. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer, 1986; IARC Sci. Pub. No. 74: 23–33.
International Agency for Research on Cancer. Tobacco Smoking. Lyon, France: IARC, 1986; IARC Monogr Eval Carcinog Risk Chem Humans, Vol. 38: 203–44.
Additional information
Authors are with the Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, 3451 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94611, USA. Address correspondence to Dr Sidney. This study was funded by grants R01 CA 36074 and R35 CA 49761 from the US National Cancer Institute.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sidney, S., Tekawa, I.S. & Friedman, G.D. A prospective study of cigarette tar yield and lung cancer. Cancer Causes Control 4, 3–10 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00051707
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00051707