Re: Cigar Smoking in Men and Risk of Death From Tobacco-Related Cancers

Extract

Shapiro et al. (1) analyzed the relationship between cigar smoking in men and mortality from various cancers over 12 years of follow-up of the American Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Study II cohort. Men who ever smoked cigarettes or pipes were excluded from the analysis. The investigators found that cigar smoking, as compared with never smoking, increased the risk of cancers of the lung, oral cavity/pharynx, larynx, and esophagus. The size of this study also allowed them to analyze the risk for lung cancer in cigar users who did not inhale the smoke. Importantly, they found a significantly elevated relative risk for lung cancer of 3.3 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.3–4.7) in cigar smokers in this group compared with never smokers, although this risk was less than that in cigar smokers who did inhale. These results are consistent with those of a recent European case–control study of pure smokers of cigars or cigarillos (2), who were found to have a relative risk of lung cancer of 5.2 (95% CI = 2.7–10.0) among noninhalers compared with nonsmokers.