U.S. study links stomach cancer to smoking

Release at 4 p.m. EDT WASHINGTON (Reuter) More than 40 percent of
the cases of stomach and esophageal cancer can be blamed on smoking,
and quitting does not cut the risk for 30 years, U.S. researchers
reported Tuesday. Marilie Gammon and colleagues at the Columbia
University School of Public Health said the rates of cancers of the
stomach and esophagus, which leads into the stomach, had risen
steeply in the United States and Europe in recent years. They said
white males were especially prone. Reporting in the Journal of the
National Cancer Institute, Gammon's group said smoking was a clear
risk factor for two different kinds of cancer adenocarcinoma and
squamous cell cancer. They studied more than 1,000 people aged 30 to
79 who had been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus or stomach and
compared them to 600 people who did not have cancer. They carefully
questioned them about alcohol or tobacco use, diet, medication and
other factors. They found the risk of adenocarcinoma was doubled
among current and exsmokers. The higher risk lasted for up to 30
years after someone stopped smoking, they added. Drinking wine seemed
to reduce the risk, while drinking beer or spirits had no effect
either way on adenocarcinoma. But drinking did increase the risk of
the other cancer, squamous cell cancer, they said. Smoking also
increased the risk of squamous cell carcinoma more than fivefold,
they said. Exsmokers had a risk nearly three times higher of
squamous cell cancer of the stomach or esophagus. ^REUTER@