The case-control study of lung cancer in Taiyuan, China

Objective: To investigate the risk factors of various types of lung cancer by case-control study in Taiyuan, China. Methods: In this case-control study, the incident lung cancer patients with pathological evidence came from hospitals and the randomly selected residents all over the city were chosen as the cases and the controls, respectively. After completion the survey by questionnaire, the trend test and multivariate unconditioned logistic regression analysis were used after adjusting the confounding variables. The relationship between various risk factors and different pathological types of lung cancer was analyzed. Results: Active smoking was the main risk of lung cancer and this risk factor was significant [OR (odds ratio): 3.75, 95% CI (confidence interval): 2.39-5.89], especially for squamous-cell lung cancer (OR: 5.01, 95% CI: 2.42-10.37) and small-cell lung cancer (OR: 5.06, 95% CI: 2.10-12.18). There were significant linear trends of ORs for quantity of cigarettes consumed, duration of smoking and cumulative quantity of smoking. Various types of indoor air pollution such as passive smoking occurred in working and living places and long period of coal or wood use for cooking and heating were closely associated with the risk of lung cancer. The study on relationship between PM2.5 (particulate matter 2.5 µm) and lung cancer is in startup stage, and no significant relationship was revealed. Conclusion: Smoking is still an important risk factor for lung cancer in Taiyuan, China. In addition, passive smoking and environmental air pollution also played an important role in development of lung cancer. DOI:10.3781/j.issn.1000-7431.2013.10.007