Cigarette smoking and use of other
tobacco products significantly increases the risk of death from stomach
cancer
in men and women, a large study of US adults indicates. Stomach cancer is the second most common
cancer worldwide and is known to be linked to chronic infection with
the ulcer-causing bacteria Helicobacter pylori. In its Review of Tobacco conducted in June
of this year, the International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded
that there is "sufficient evidence in humans" to infer a causal
relationship between stomach cancer and tobacco use, says Dr. Ann Chao
of the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, Georgia. Chao''s group examined stomach cancer
mortality in relation to
cigarette smoking in women and cigarette,
cigar, pipe and smokeless tobacco use in men enrolled in the Cancer
Prevention II Study. They identified 996 and 509 stomach cancer deaths
among 467,788 men and 588,053 women, respectively. The researchers found that
compared to
non-smokers, male cigarette smokers had slightly more than double the
risk of dying from stomach cancer, while the risk for female smokers
was 49% higher than for non-smokers. Among men, current cigar smoking
increased the risk of death from stomach cancer 2.3 times compared to
non-smokers. Men with chronic indigestion or stomach
ulcers who smoked cigarettes were more than 3 times more likely to die
from stomach cancer, and nearly 9 times more likely to die from the
disease if they smoked cigars, compared with non-smokers, the authors
report. If causal, the authors estimate that the
proportion of stomach cancer deaths attributable to tobacco use would
be 28% in US men and 14% in women. "These results were very consistent in our
study population that has overall lower rates of stomach cancer
compared to other countries, and have major implications for countries
with much higher stomach cancer rates and increasing smoking
prevalence," says Chao.