Tobacco smoking; association and risk of leading cancers among males in the southern Punjab, Pakistan

ABSTRACT

To assess the risk of different cancer sites among the male smokers of the Southern Punjab, Pakistan. Case-control design. March - July 2012. A data set of 596 males, belonging to the Southern Punjab was collected from the Outdoor Ward of Cancer, Oncology Ward of Nishtar Hospital and Multan Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy [MINAR] Hospital. Through a self-administered questionnaire, smoking status and respondent's history and medical record of various types of cancers were noted. The Chi-square test was used to assess the association between tobacco smoking and cancer disease. For the risk analysis, odds ratios and attributable risk were computed. Among the respondents, 49.0% smoked tobacco. From the medical record, 438 respondents were confirmed cancerous. The average age to start tobacco was noted to be 23.41 +/- 4.85 while the age was 45.29 +/- 12.24 years for tobacco cessation. The percentage of lung cancer among smokers is 24.01 which is highest among all the stated cancer sites. The risk of a smoker getting all types of the stated cancers is at least three times. The risk of lung cancer attributed to smoking is 17.65 and 50.7% of all the stated cancers. Smokers in the Southern Punjab can greatly reduce their risk [more than 50%] of cancer if they quit smoking