Tobacco cause of most cancers in black men

	Tweet

Overall, 63 percent of cancer deaths among black men are caused by tobacco smoke, according to new research.

The results vary from region to region, however, the authors note, with tobacco to blame for 67 percent of cancer deaths in the South, 43 percent in the Northeast, 60 percent in the West, and 63 percent in the Midwest.

These findings add further evidence that “avoiding tobacco smoke exposure is clearly the biggest, and possibly the only, current way of avoiding premature cancer death, and likely many other premature deaths,” said study author Dr. Bruce N. Leistikow.

For the study, Leistikow and his colleague Dr. Alexander Tsodikov, both from the University of California, Davis, tracked the rate of lung cancer as an indicator of exposure to cigarette smoke from 1950 to 2001, as well as the rate of all cancer deaths among African-American men.

Reporting in the journal Preventive Medicine, the researchers found that, between 1950 and 1988, when exposure to cigarette smoke increased, the rates of death from lung and other cancers nearly tripled.

The fact that other cancers increased at roughly the same rate as lung cancer indicates that tobacco smoke was to blame for many cases of other cancers in black men, Leistikow noted.

“That suggests that cigarettes account for much more premature cancer deaths than previously recognized,” he added.

Leistikow explained that the percentage of cancer deaths due to tobacco varies from region to region likely because the tobacco epidemic started and peaked later, and rose higher, in the South and Midwest. Those regions may have also been somewhat slow to enact anti-tobacco interventions, he added.

“Continued smoking and premature cancer deaths in the South followed by the Midwest suggests that tobacco control - clean air laws, polluter-pays cigarette taxes, hard-hitting health department ads to counter cigarette company marketing to children, graphic warnings on cigarette packs - has been later and less in the South and Midwest,” Leistikow noted.

SOURCE: Preventive Medicine, August 2005.

RELATED STORIES:
3 is the magic number: A chain reaction required to prevent tumor formation   Genes set scene for metastasis   Diet and cancer prevention: New evidence for the protective effects of fruits and veggies   The solitary pulmonary nodule - malignant or benign?   Black Cancer Patients Less Likely than Whites to Receive the End-of-life Care They Prefer   Genetic switch that links animal growth and cancer   Experts say 40 percent of cancers could be prevented   Unlocking the body’s defenses against cancer   Korean research, a first step toward Dr. Smartphone?   Stem-Cell Sentry Sounds the Alarm to Maintain Balance Between Cancer and Aging   Small Gift Makes Big Impact in Lives of Cancer Patients   Moderate activity may reduce ovarian cancer risk   Viruses against cancer   Americans “bombarded” with cancer causes - report   Doctors Learn More about Diagnosing Rare Form of Cancer   Helping to Identify Small Tumors Early   Psychiatric symptoms can be first sign of cancer   Surgical technique relieves painful spine fractures in patients with metastatic cancer   Drug Could Effectively Treat, Prevent the Spread of Breast Cancer   Factors that enhance autonomy of cancer patients   Radionuclide treatment against small tumors and metastases   Researchers Find Melanoma Not Caused by Early UVA Light Exposure

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]