Who Is at High Risk for Lung Cancer? Population-Level and Individual-Level Perspectives

ABSTRACT

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the world. However, there is large geographic variation internationally and within nations. Despite the fact that many causes of lung cancer have been established, cigarette smoking is the principal cause. Accounting for historical prevalence of cigarette smoking is a useful predictor of the lung cancer burden in most populations. The populations at high present risk of lung cancer can usually be predicted based on historical patterns of the prevalence of cigarette smoking, and the high-risk populations of the future can be predicted based on the current prevalence of cigarette smoking. Lung cancer rates are consistently higher among men than women and are particularly high among African American men and among those of lower socioeconomic status.

At the individual level, some segments of the population (e.g., African Americans, females) have been hypothesized to have greater susceptibility to lung cancer for a given degree of cigarette smoking. Common variants in genes that encode for enzymes involved in carcinogen metabolism and detoxification and in repairing DNA damage are likely to be important determinants of interindividual susceptibility to smoking-caused lung carcinogenesis.

Many lung cancer risk factors have been identified, but active cigarette smoking is the predominant cause of lung cancer and the principal marker of both high-risk populations and high-risk individuals. In the absence of cigarette smoking, lung cancer would be a rare disease. Strategies that effectively prevent youths from starting to smoke and that promote cessation among dependent smokers can transform populations from high risk to low risk.

KEYWORDS

Epidemiology - lung cancer - cigarette smoking - risk factors - disparities

REFERENCES

• 1 Rosen G. A History of Public Health. Expanded ed. Baltimore, MD; Johns Hopkins University Press 1993
• 2 Parkin D M, Bray F, Ferlay J, Pisani P. Global cancer statistics, 2002.  CA Cancer J Clin. 2005;  55 74-108
• 3 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services .The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2004
• 4 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services .The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health 2006
• 5 National Cancer Institute .Cigars: Health Effects and Trends. Bethesda, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute 1998
• 6 Alberg A J, Ford J G, Samet J M. Epidemiology of Lung Cancer: ACCP Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines (2nd Edition).  Chest. 2007;  132(3S) 29S-55S
• 7 Committee on Health Risks of Exposure to Radon (BEIR VI), National Research Council .Health Effects of Exposure to Radon (BEIR VI). Washington, DC: National Academy Press, National Research Council, Committee on Health Risks of Exposure to Radon, Board on Radiation Effects Research, Commission on Life Sciences 1999
• 8 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency .Technical Support Document for the 1992 Citizen's Guide to Radon. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1992
• 9 Shibuya K, Inoue M, Lopez A D. Statistical modeling and projections of lung cancer mortality in 4 industrialized countries.  Int J Cancer. 2005;  117 476-485
• 10 Hecht S S. Tobacco smoke carcinogens and lung cancer.  J Natl Cancer Inst. 1999;  91 1194-1210
• 11 Jemal A, Travis W D, Tarone R E, Travis L, Devesa S S. Lung cancer rates convergence in young men and women in the united states: analysis by birth cohort and histologic type.  Int J Cancer. 2003;  105 101-107
• 12 Lubin J H, Caporaso N, Wichmann H E, Schaffrath-Rosario A, Alvanja M C. Cigarette smoking and lung cancer: modeling effect modification of total exposure and intensity.  Epidemiology. 2007;  18 639-648
• 13 Shafey O, Dolwick S, Guindon GE Tobacco Country Profiles 2003. Atlanta, GA; American Cancer Society 2003
• 14 Ferlay J, Bray F, Pisani P, Parkin D M. GLOBOCAN 2002: Cancer Incidence, Mortality and Prevalence Worldwide: IARC Cancer Base No. 5 version 2.0 Lyon; IARC Press 2004
• 15 Lam W K, White N W, Chan-Yeung M M. Lung cancer epidemiology and risk factors in Asia and Africa.  Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2004;  8 1045-1057
• 16 Liu B Q, Peto R, Chen Z M et al.. Emerging tobacco hazards in China, I: Retrospective proportional mortality study of one million deaths.  BMJ. 1998;  317 1411-1422
• 17 Yang L, Parkin D, Ferlay J. Estimates of cancer incidence in China for 2000 and projections for 2005.  Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2005;  14 243-250
• 18 Ezzati M, Lopez A D. Estimates of global mortality attributable to smoking in 2000.  Lancet. 2003;  362 847-852
• 19 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) .Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, GA; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2006
• 20 Ries L, Melbert D, Krapcho M et al.. SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975–2004. Bethesda, MD; National Cancer Institute 2006
• 21 Bach P B, Kattan M W, Thornquist M D et al.. Variations in lung cancer risk among smokers.  J Natl Cancer Inst. 2003;  95 470-478
• 22 Pinsky P F. Racial and ethnic differences in lung cancer incidence: how much is explained by differences in smoking patterns? (United States).  Cancer Causes Control. 2006;  17 1017-1024
• 23 Stellman S D, Chen Y, Muscat J E et al.. Lung cancer risk in white and black Americans.  Ann Epidemiol. 2003;  13 294-302
• 24 Haiman C A, Stram D O, Wilkens L R et al.. Ethnic and racial differences in the smoking-related risk of lung cancer.  N Engl J Med. 2006;  354 333-342
• 25 Harris R E, Zang E A, Anderson J I, Wynder E L. Race and sex differences in lung cancer risk associated with cigarette smoking.  Int J Epidemiol. 1993;  22 592-599
• 26 Schwartz A G, Swanson G M. Lung carcinoma in African Americans and whites. A population-based study in metropolitan Detroit, Michigan.  Cancer. 1997;  79 45-52
• 27 Sidney S, Tekawa I S, Friedman G D, Sadler M C, Tashkin D P. Mentholated cigarette use and lung cancer.  Arch Intern Med. 1995;  155 727-732
• 28 Kabat G C, Hebert J R. Use of mentholated cigarettes and lung cancer risk.  Cancer Res. 1991;  51 6510-6513
• 29 Brooks D R, Palmer J R, Strom B L, Rosenberg L. Menthol cigarettes and risk of lung cancer.  Am J Epidemiol. 2003;  158 609-616 discussion 617-620
• 30 Carpenter C L, Jarvik M E, Morgenstern H, McCarthy W J, London S J. Mentholated cigarette smoking and lung cancer risk.  Ann Epidemiol. 1999;  9 114-120
• 31 Cooley M E, Jennings-Dozier K. Lung cancer in African Americans: a call for action.  Cancer Pract. 1998;  6 99-106
• 32 Lubin J H, Blot W J. Assessment of lung cancer risk factors by histologic category.  J Natl Cancer Inst. 1984;  73 383-389
• 33 McDuffie H H, Klaassen D J, Dosman J A. Female–male differences in patients with primary lung cancer.  Cancer. 1987;  59 1825-1830
• 34 Brownson R C, Chang J C, Davis J R. Gender and histologic type variations in smoking-related risk of lung cancer.  Epidemiology. 1992;  3 61-64
• 35 Risch H A, Howe G R, Jain M, Burch J D, Holoway E J, Miller A B. Are female smokers at a higher risk for lung cancer than male smokers? A case-control analysis by histologic type.  Am J Epidemiol. 1993;  138 281-293
• 36 Zang E A, Wynder E L. Differences in lung cancer risk between men and women: examination of the evidence.  J Natl Cancer Inst. 1996;  88 183-192
• 37 Schoenberg J B, Wilcox H B, Mason T J, Bill J, Stemhagen A. Variation in smoking-related lung cancer risk among New Jersey women.  Am J Epidemiol. 1989;  130 688-695
• 38 Osann K E, Anton-Culver H, Kurosaki T, Taylor T. Sex differences in lung-cancer risk associated with cigarette smoking.  Int J Cancer. 1993;  54 44-48
• 39 Kreuzer M, Boffetta P, Whitley E et al.. Gender differences in lung cancer risk by smoking: a mutlicentre case-control study in Germany and Italy.  Br J Cancer. 2000;  82 227-233
• 40 Bain C, Feskanich D, Speizer F E et al.. Lung cancer rates in men and women with comparable histories of smoking.  J Natl Cancer Inst. 2004;  96 826-834
• 41 Prescott E, Osler M, Hein H O et al.. Gender and smoking-related risk of lung cancer. The Copenhagen Center for Prospective Population Studies.  Epidemiology. 1998;  9 79-83
• 42 Thun M J, Day-Lally C A, Calle E E, Flanders D, Heath C W. Excess mortality among cigarette smokers: changes in a 20-year interval.  Am J Public Health. 1995;  85 1223-1230
• 43 Gadgeel S M, Kalemkerian G P. Racial differences in lung cancer.  Cancer Metastasis Rev. 2003;  22 39-46
• 44 Gadgeel S M, Severson R K, Kau Y, Graff J, Weiss L K, Kalemkerian G P. Impact of race in lung cancer: analysis of temporal trends from a surveillance, epidemiology, and end results database.  Chest. 2001;  120 55-63
• 45 Borland R, Pierce J P, Burns D M, Gilpin E, Johnson M, Bal D. Protection from environmental tobacco smoke in California: the case for a smoke-free workplace.  JAMA. 1992;  268 749-752
• 46 Curtin F, Morabia A, Bernstein M. Lifetime exposure to environmental tobacco smoke among urban women.  Am J Epidemiol. 1998;  148 1040-1047
• 47 Scarinci I C, Watson J M, Slawson D L, Klesges R C, Murray D M, Eck-Clemens L H. Socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and environmental tobacco exposure among non-smoking females.  Nicotine Tob Res. 2000;  2 355-361
• 48 Alberg A J, Samet J M. Epidemiology of lung cancer.  Chest. 2003;  123(1, Suppl) 21S-49S
• 49 Schwartz A G, Yang P, Swanson G M. Familial risk of lung cancer among nonsmokers and their relatives.  Am J Epidemiol. 1996;  144 554-562
• 50 Bailey-Wilson J E, Amos C I, Pinney S M et al.. A major lung cancer susceptibility locus maps to chromosome 6q23–25.  Am J Hum Genet. 2004;  75 460-474
• 51 Vineis P, Veglia F, Benhamou S et al.. CYP1A1 T3801 C polymorphism and lung cancer: a pooled analysis of 2451 cases and 3358 controls.  Int J Cancer. 2003;  104 650-657
• 52 Le Marchand L, Guo C, Benhamou S et al.. Pooled analysis of the CYP1A1 exon 7 polymorphism and lung cancer (United States).  Cancer Causes Control. 2003;  14 339-346
• 53 Benhamou S, Lee W J, Alexandrie A K et al.. Meta- and pooled analyses of the effects of glutathione S-transferase M1 polymorphisms and smoking on lung cancer risk.  Carcinogenesis. 2002;  23 1343-1350
• 54 Spitz M R, Wei Q, Dong Q, Amos C I, Wu X. Genetic susceptibility to lung cancer: the role of DNA damage and repair.  Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2003;  12 689-698
• 55 Wei Q, Cheng L, Amos C I et al.. Repair of tobacco carcinogen-induced DNA adducts and lung cancer risk: a molecular epidemiologic study.  J Natl Cancer Inst. 2000;  92 1764-1772
• 56 Zheng Y L, Loffredo C A, Yu Z et al.. Bleomycin-induced chromosome breaks as a risk marker for lung cancer: a case-control study with population and hospital controls.  Carcinogenesis. 2003;  24 269-274