This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Agapitos, E. Articles by Trichopoulos, D. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Agapitos, E. Articles by Trichopoulos, D. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Epithelial, possibly precancerous, lesions of the lung in relation to smoking, passive smoking, and socio-demographic variables

Department of Pathology, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece

Franco Mollo

Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

Lorenzo Tomatis

Instituto Per L'Infantia, Trieste, Italy

Klea Katsouyanni

Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention and Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece

Loren Lipworth, MA

Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention and Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston

Luisa Delsedime

Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

Anna Kalandidi

Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece

Anna Karakatsani

Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece

Elio Riboli

International Agency for Research on Cancer (World Health Organization), Lyon, France

Rodolfo Saracci

International Agency for Research on Cancer (World Health Organization), Lyon, France

Dimitrios Trichopoulos

Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention and Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, Correspondence address: Dimitrios Trichopoulos Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Tel: 617-432-4568, Fax: 617-566-7805

We have undertaken an autopsy-based study to evaluate the etiologic importance of active and passive smoking, as well as socio-demographic variables, in the development of pathologic precursors of lung cancer. Lung specimens were taken at autopsy from 531 persons who had died within four hours from a cause other than respiratory or cancer in Athens (Greece) or the surrounding area. Specimens were examined blindly for basal cell hyperplasia, squamous cell metaplasia, cell atypia and mucous cell metaplasia, i.e., pathological entities considered as epithelial, possibly precancerous, lesions (EPPL). Interviews were conducted with next of kin of the deceased. Suitable autopsy specimens as well as completed interviews were eventually available for 275 subjects. EPPL score was regressed on the available independent variables. EPPL score was higher among active smokers than among nonsmokers, while ex-smokers occupied an intermediate position. Conditional on smoking habits, EPPL score was higher among women than among men and higher among manual than among non-manual workers, in agreement with the corresponding patterns with respect to lung cancer. Nonsmoking women married to ever smokers had significantly higher EPPL score than those married to never smokers. The overall findings of this study suggest that EPPL is a valuable indicator of lung cancer risk and that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is associated with higher EPPL levels and therefore with higher lung cancer risk.

Key Words: lung cancer • precancerous lesions • passive smoking • demographic variables

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 24, No. 4, 259-263 (1996)
DOI: 10.1177/140349489602400406


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?