Skip Navigation


IJE Advance Access originally published online on August 9, 2007
International Journal of Epidemiology 2007 36(5):1048-1059; doi:10.1093/ije/dym158
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
36/5/1048    most recent
dym158v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (5)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Taylor, R.
Right arrow Articles by Dobson, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Taylor, R.
Right arrow Articles by Dobson, A.
Social Bookmarking
 Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association © The Author 2007; all rights reserved.

Meta-analysis of studies of passive smoking and lung cancer: effects of study type and continent

Richard Taylor*, Farid Najafi and Annette Dobson

School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Australia.

* School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Herston Road, Herston, Queensland 4006, Australia. E-mail: r.taylor{at}sph.uq.edu.au


   Abstract

Background To calculate a pooled estimate of relative risk (RR) of lung cancer associated with exposure to passive smoking in never smoking women exposed to smoking spouses. This study is an updated meta-analysis that also assesses the differences between estimated risks according to continent and study type using meta-regression.

Methods From a total of 101 primary studies, 55 studies are included in this meta-analysis, of which, 7 are cohort studies, 25 population-based case-control and 23 non-population-based case-control studies. Twenty previously published meta-analyses are also reviewed. Fixed and random effect models and meta-regression are used to obtain pooled estimates of RR and P-value functions are used to demonstrate consistency of results.

Results The pooled RR for never-smoking women exposed to passive smoking from spouses is 1.27 (95% CI 1.17–1.37). The RR for North America is 1.15 (95% CI 1.03–1.28), Asia, 1.31 (95% CI 1.16–1.48) and Europe, 1.31 (1.24–1.52). Sequential cumulative meta-analysis shows no trend. There is no strong evidence of publication bias.

Conclusions The abundance of evidence, consistency of finding across continent and study type, dose–response relationship and biological plausibility, overwhelmingly support the existence of a causal relationship between passive smoking and lung cancer.


Keywords passive smoking, lung cancer, meta-analysis

Accepted 3 July 2007


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
Clin. Cancer Res.Home page
L.-E Wang, Z. Hu, E. M. Sturgis, M. R. Spitz, S. S. Strom, C. I. Amos, Z. Guo, Y. Qiao, A. M. Gillenwater, J. N. Myers, et al.
Reduced DNA Repair Capacity for Removing Tobacco Carcinogen-Induced DNA Adducts Contributes to Risk of Head and Neck Cancer but not Tumor Characteristics
Clin. Cancer Res., January 15, 2010; 16(2): 764 - 774.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
CarcinogenesisHome page
P. Boffetta
Biomarkers in cancer epidemiology: an integrative approach
Carcinogenesis, January 1, 2010; 31(1): 121 - 126.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]



Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.