Quantification of the role of smoking and chewing tobacco in oral, pharyngeal, and oesophageal cancers

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Abstract
The etiologic fractions due to smoking and chewing tobacco were quantified for the 1st time, for [human] cancers of the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, larynx and esophagus. The overall etiologic fractions due to smoking and/or chewing tobacco were 70% for cancer of the oral cavity, 84% for the oropharynx and .apprx. 75% for the hypopharynx and larynx. In cancer of the esophagus, the fraction is only 50%, showing that another factor or factors play an equal role in the etiology of cancer of this site. At each of the sites studied, the 2 factors, smoking and chewing, acted synergistically, though in varying degrees.