Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 2, 1994 TAG: 9402020156
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
The parallel studies to be published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute also found that early smoking apparently fixes for life the risk of colo-rectal cancer, even if the smoking habit is dropped.
"With colon cancer, if you smoke in your 20s, that risk stays with you," said Dr. Edward Giovannucci of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, the Channing Laboratory and the Harvard School of Public Health. "Even if you stop at age 40, you'll still be at greater risk."
The risk is also "dose related," he said. "The more you smoke, the more the risk."
Other studies show that stopping cigarette smoking at any age, however, does lower the risk of heart disease, lung cancer and other disorders, Giovannucci said.
The colon cancer conclusions are based on a Harvard School of Public Health study of 47,935 men and a Brigham and Women's study of 118,334 women. Both studies used questionnaires to determine the smoking history of the participants and then related that to the rate of colon-rectal cancer in the groups.
Giovannucci said the studies showed a direct relationship between the amount of smoking, measured in "pack years," and the development of cancer. He said a pack year is equivalent to smoking one pack of cigarettes a day for one year. Thus, a person who smokes two packs a day can accumulate 20 pack years in just a decade.
by CNB