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Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Lung Cancer: A Case-Control Study in Germany.

Am. J. Epidemiol. 151, 241-250 (2000)
DOI PMC
Open Access Green as soon as Postprint is submitted to ZB.
To assess the association between exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and lung cancer, the authors personally interviewed 292 lifelong nonsmoking lung cancer cases (recruited from 15 hospitals in the study area) and 1,338 nonsmoking controls (randomly selected by population registries) between 1990 and 1996 in Germany. Subjects were asked by a standardized questionnaire about exposure to ETS in childhood, by spouse, at work, and in transportation and social settings. Several indicators of these different sources of exposure were investigated, using not or low exposed subjects as the reference category. The most informative quantification index was weighted duration of exposure (hours x level of smokiness). No effect of ETS exposure during childhood and no clear effect of spousal ETS were observed. However, for the highest category of exposure, clear effects of ETS at the workplace (odds ratio (OR) = 1.93; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.04, 3.58), in vehicles (OR = 2.64; 95% CI: 1.30, 5.36), and from all sources combined (OR = 1.39; 95% CI: 0.96, 2.01) were found. Adjustment for occupational carcinogens, radon, and diet did not appreciably change the results. These findings suggest that exposures to high levels of ETS at the workplace and in other public indoor settings appear to be important risk factors for lung cancer risk in nonsmokers.
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Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Scientific Article
Corresponding Author
Keywords case-control studies lung neoplasms tobacco smoke pollution
ISSN (print) / ISBN 0002-9262
e-ISSN 1476-6256
Quellenangaben Volume: 151, Issue: 3, Pages: 241-250 Article Number: , Supplement: ,
Publisher Oxford University Press
Non-patent literature Publications
Reviewing status Peer reviewed
Institute(s) Institute of Epidemiology (EPI)