TOTAL TOBACCO CONSUMPTION IN AN UNSELECTED BRONCHIAL-CARCINOMA POPULATION

  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 62  (3) , 152-159
Abstract
The smoking habits of an epidemiologically unselected group of patients with bronchial carcinoma in the Swedish county of Uppsala were studied in detail. Of 273 bronchial carcinoma patients in 1971-1976, 82% were smokers (96% of the males and 34% of the females). In a control material 10-15 yr earlier, there were 67% male and 26% female smokers. The difference in males is statistically significant but not in females. However, 71% of younger female patients were smokers and this difference from the controls is statistically significant. Of the males with epidermoid carcinoma and small cell carcinoma, 98% were smokers. Of the males with adenocarcinoma, 90% were smokers, in contrast to 24% of the 38 females. The smoking habits in females with adenocarcinoma were the same as in the female population of the county 15 yr earlier. The mean age at the start of smoking was 19 yr. The mean total tobacco consumption was 207 kg, 215 kg for males and 130 kg for females, and the mean average consumption per yr was 4.6 kg. Of the males, 54% smoked cigarettes and pipe tobacco.