Cigarette smoking and lung cancer in New Mexico. Samet IM, Wiggins CL, Humble CG, Pathak DR. Deparrmenf of Medicine. University ofNew Mexico Medical Center. Albuquerque. NM 87131. Am Rev Respir Dis 1988;137:1110-3.

We have used population-based data for the state of New Mexico to calculate cigarette-smoking-specific incidence rates for lung cancer, cumulative incidence rates for lung cancer, and estimates of the proportion of lung cancer cases attributable to smoking. For white New Mexicans, the incidence of lung cancer increased with age and was markedly higher in smokers than in nonsmokers. From 25 through 84 yr ofage,thecumulativeincidenceoflungcancerwas0.9%innonsmoking malesand0.5% in nonsmoking females. The cumulative incidence rates were much higher for smokers; for males who smoked 20 or more cigarettes daily from age 25, the cumulative risk of lung cancer through age 84 was 3 1.7%. For females with the same cigarette smoking history, the estimate of cumulative incidence through age 84 years was 15.3%. The population-attributable risks for lung cancer associated with ciga- rette smoking were 89.5% for males and 85.5% for females.

Analysis of excess lung cancer risk in short-term employees. Lamm SH, Levine MS, Starr JA, Tirey SL. Epi&mio/ogy and Occupu- tional Health, Inc., Washington, DC 20007. Am J Epidemiol 1988;127: 1202-9.

An excess of lung cancer found in a cohort of 741 New York State tremolitic talc workers observed from 1947 through 1978 has been shown paradoxically to be concentrated in short-term workers. Review of past work histories suggests that the excess of lung cancer in these short-term workers may be accounted for by prior exposures rather than by exposures at the employment under investigation. This finding has significant implications in view of the developing practice of including short-term workers inoccupational cohort studies in contrast to the more traditional practice of excluding short-term workers. The traditional practice was based on the assumption that the inclusion of short-term workers with little exposure, and thus little risk, might dilute an otherwise apparent association between mortality and exposure. This study suggests that in certain instances the inclusion of short-term workers may magnify rathcrthan dilute the estimation of risk, reflecting the presence of confounding variables.

Cigarette smoking and male lung cancer in an area of very high incidence. II. Report of a general population cohort study in the West of Scotland. Gillis CR, Hole DJ, Hawthorne VM. West of Scotland Cancer Surveil- lance Unit, Ruchill Hospital, Glasgow G20 9NB. J Epidemiol Commun Health 1988;42:44-8.

A general population cohort of 7055 men aged 45-64 and resident in Renfrew and Paisley, two urban burghs in the West of Scotland, has been followed for 101 years. Analysisofthecigarettesmokingandlungcancer (incidence and mortality) relation has been undertaken in order to establish whether unusual results found in a case-control study of cigarettesmokingandlungcancerin LheadjacentcityofGlasgowcould be confirmed. Lung cancer incidence and mortality rates increased markedly for exposure categories up to an average consumption of 15- 24 cigarettes per day. Above this level the rates increased only margin- ally. Exuressing these rates relative to that estimated for the never-

Cigarette smoking and male lung cancer in an area of very high incidence. I. Report of a case-control study in the West of Scotland. Gillis CR, Hole DJ, Boyle P. West ofScotland Cancer Surveillance Unit, Ruchill Hospital, Glasgow G20 9NB. J Epidemiol Commun Health. 1988; 42:38-43.

Altogether 656 male lung cancer cases and 13 12 age and sex matched controls were interviewed between 1976 and 1981 in a case-control study of cigarette smoking habits and lung cancer in Glasgow and the West of Scotland, an area with the highest recorded incidence in the world. The relative risk of lung cancer increased significantly for smokers whose consumption was below 20cigarettes per day but did not rise significantly in those who smoked more than 20 cigarettes per day. Other smoking characteristics such as inhalation and tar yields ofbrands smoked did not explain this finding. Additionally, the relative risks observed at all levels of cigarette consumption were low in comparison with those in the published literature. By constructing an index of cigarette exposure which included the tar yields of brands smoked, an assessment of the risk of lung cancer in relation to tar exposure independent of amount smoked was derived. Only in smokers of less than 15 cigarettes per day was there a statistically significant reduction in risk of lung cancer associated with lower levels of tar yield.

Never smoker lung cancer risks from exposure to particulate tobacco smoke. Arundel A, Sterling T, Weinkam J. Faculty ofApplied Sciences, School of Computing Science, Simon Fraser University. Burnaby, EC VSA I S6. Environ Int 1987;13:409-26.

The average particulate environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) expo- sure of never and current smokers and the average lung cancer mortality rate for current smokers is estimated from empirical data. These estimates are used in a linear downward extrapolation of the lung cancer risk/mgofparticulate ETS exposure for current smokers tocalculate the average lung cancer risk for never smokers and the number of never smoker lung cancer deaths (LCD) in the U.S. in 1980 from exposure to particulate ETS. The estimated average daily inhaled particulate ETS exposure for never smokers is 0.62 mg/day for men and 0.28 mg/day for women. The average never smoker is estimated to retain 11% of the inhaled exposure, for a daily retained exposure of 0.07 mg for men and 0.03 mg for women. Other estimates are: a daily retained exposure for current smokers of 3 IO mg for men and 249 mg for women, a smoking- attributable lung cancer risk for current smokers in 1980 of 284 LCD/ lCO,OOO men and 121 LCD/100,000 women, and an annual retained- exposure lung cancer risk for never smokers of 0.64 LCD/lOO,OOO men and 0.015 LCD/lOO,OCKl women. These risks and exposures estimate I2 lung cancer deaths among never smokers from exposure to particulate ETS: 8 among the 11.96 million male never smokers and 4 among the 28.85 million female never smokers in the U.S. in 1980. Conversely, between 655 and 3,610 never smoker lung cancer deaths are estimated from methods based on the average lung cancer risk observed in epidemiological studies of exposure to ETS. Three possible reasons for the discrepancy between the exposure and risk-based estimates are discussed: the excess risks observed in epidemiological studies are due to bias, the relationship between exposure and risk is supralinear, or sidestream tobacco smoke is substantially more carcinogenic than an equivalent exposure to mainsucam smoke. . . _

smoked group and comparing them with the relative risks estimated in thecasecontrol studyrevealedasimilarity in termsofboththe shapeand the level of the dose-response relation. Comparison of the lung cancer rates found in this cohort with those observed in other cohort studies in the literature (UK doctors, US Veterans, and American Cancer Society volunteers) suggested that the West of Scotland rates were substantially higher at all levels of cigarette exposure.

A case-referent study investigating the relationship between expo- sure to silica dust and lung cancer. Mastrangelo G. Zambon P, Simonato L, Rizzi P. Center of Environ- mentalCarcinogenesis. UniversityofPadova,I-35100Padova. IntArch Ckcup Environ Health 1988$X:299-302.

A case-referent study was carried out to investigate the relationship