Smoking, smoking cessation, and lung cancer in the UK since 1950: combination of national statistics with two case-control studies.

ABSTRACT:

Objective and design

To relate UK national trends since 1950 in smoking, in smoking cessation, and in lung cancer to the contrasting results from two large case-control studies centred around 1950 and 1990.

Setting

United Kingdom.

Participants

Hospital patients under 75 years of age with and without lung cancer in 1950 and 1990, plus, in 1990, a matched sample of the local population: 1465 case-control pairs in the 1950 study, and 982 cases plus 3185 controls in the 1990 study.

Main outcome measures

Smoking prevalence and lung cancer.

Results

For men in early middle age in the United Kingdom the prevalence of smoking halved between 1950 and 1990 but the death rate from lung cancer at ages 35-54 fell even more rapidly, indicating some reduction in the ris

SUBMITTER: Peto R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC27446 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature