Breast Cancer Mortality Not Affected by Smoke Exposure - Brief Article

AORN Journal, Dec, 2000

A study of nearly 150,000 women who had never smoked found no association between exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and breast cancer mortality, according to an Oct 18, 2000, press release from the American Cancer Society. These results contradict previous studies that reported an increase in breast cancer risk among women exposed to ETS. The design, the large number of women involved, and the reporting of ETS by both spouses, however, give credence to the current study.

The study tracked 146,488 married women who had never smoked who were cancer free in 1982 when they entered the study. After 12 years, 669 deaths due to breast cancer were reported. The primary analysis defined exposure to ETS as active smoking by the husband, as reported in his questionnaire, and considered both amount and duration of his smoking.

A second definition of ETS exposure was derived directly from each woman's report of the number of hours per day that she was exposed to the smoke of others at home, work, and elsewhere, according to the release.

No association between exposure to ETS and death from breast cancer was found, regardless of the number of packs of cigarettes smoked per day by the husband or the years that he had smoked. A small but statistically insignificant increase in mortality was found among women married to current smokers before age 20.

According to researchers, results suggest that among never-smoking women who have been exposed to the passive smoke of their husbands for 30 or more years, there is no increase in their risk of dying of breast cancer. Researchers caution that although the link between ETS and breast cancer risk has not been established, ETS is an otherwise well-proven serious health danger.

American Cancer Society Study Finds No Association Between Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) and Breast Cancer Mortality (press release, Atlanta: American Cancer Society, Oct 18, 2000) 1-3. Available from http://www2.cancer.org/media. Accessed 3 Nov 2000.