Black tobacco, mate, and bladder cancer: a case-control study from Uruguay

Article Abstract:

Bladder cancer is a common cause of cancer-related death in the nation of Uruguay. The age-adjusted mortality for urinary bladder cancer is 7.6 per 100,000 per year for men and 1.2 per 100,000 for women. Although occupational hazards account for some of the risk of bladder cancer in Uruguay, cigarette smoking is also a major contributor to risk. This is particularly true for the population of Uruguay, 40 percent of whom smoke black tobacco, either in manufactured cigarettes or hand-rolled. Smoking black tobacco has been shown to confer an even greater risk than smoking blond tobacco. A case-controlled study was conducted among 111 patients with bladder cancer and 222 matched controls. In addition to the smoking factors that were examined, including a comparison of black and blond tobacco, the consumption of mate was also examined for possible contribution to the risk of bladder cancer. Mate is a popular tea-like beverage brewed from the herb Ilex paraguariensis. Black tobacco was found to confer 2.7 times the risk of bladder cancer than blond tobacco. The research also confirmed an increase in the risk of bladder cancer due to the consumption of mate. This risk increased with increased daily consumption of mate, but not with years of mate use or age when drinking began. However, the research also uncovered evidence of an interaction between smoking black tobacco and drinking mate. The risk from black tobacco use and the risk from heavy mate drinking were multiplied, not added, for men who used both substances. Although the trend was similar among women, too few women smoked black tobacco to make a reliable determination. The relative risk for bladder cancer of a man smoking black tobacco and drinking more than 1.5 liters of mate per day was 17.3 time that of a smoker of blond tobacco who drank only a small amount of mate. The combination of black tobacco and mate drinking may account for the high incidence of urinary bladder cancer in Uruguay. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Tobacco, Uruguay, Herbal teas, Bladder cancer, Mate (Tea), Mate (Beverage)

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The changing pattern of lung carcinoma

Article Abstract:

Cigarette smoking habits have changed in the United States over the past few decades. Many people have quit smoking, and many others are smoking cigarettes with lower amounts of tar. A survey of 505 cases of lung cancer suggests that the types of cancers being diagnosed are changing as well, and most likely reflect the changes in smoking habits. Cigarette smoking has been found to be associated with an increased risk of bronchogenic cancer. These cancers arise in the bronchi, the airways which carry air from the trachea into the lung tissue itself. Cancers arising in lung tissues outside the bronchi do not appear to be associated with smoking. Of the cancers occurring prior to 1978, 69.3 percent were of the type thought to be related to smoking. In contrast, 57.3 percent of the cancers occurring between 1986 and 1989 were of the same types. Conversely, peripheral cancers occurring outside the bronchi rose from 30.7 to 42.0 percent of the total lung cancer cases during this same interval. Of the various types of lung cancer, the greatest proportional increase was in the bronchoalveolar type, which rose from 9.3 to 20.3 percent of the total lung cancer cases. Bronchoalveolar cancer is apparently unrelated to smoking. In the present series of patients, 35.4 percent of the peripheral cancers involved scar tissue. This scar tissue may have resulted from tuberculosis or from damage resulting from the obstruction of a blood vessel. Lung cancers are classified on the basis of the structure visible under the microscope, as well as on their site of origin in the lungs; the squamous cell and oat cell carcinomas are both less likely to be seen with the decrease in smoking. Adenocarcinomas as well as some other types are likely to constitute a greater fraction of the cases of lung cancer in the future. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Demographic aspects, Lung cancer, Cigarette smoke

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