Urology
Volume 69, Issue 4 , Pages 721-725, April 2007

Smoking and Risk of Fatal Prostate Cancer in a Prospective U.S. Study

  • Sabine Rohrmann

      Affiliations

    • Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland
    • Division of Clinical Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany
    • ,
  • Jeanine M. Genkinger

      Affiliations

    • Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
    • ,
  • Alyce Burke

      Affiliations

    • Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland
    • George W. Comstock Center for Public Health Research and Prevention, Hagerstown, Maryland
    • ,
  • Kathy J. Helzlsouer

      Affiliations

    • Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland
    • George W. Comstock Center for Public Health Research and Prevention, Hagerstown, Maryland
    • Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland
    • Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland
    • ,
  • George W. Comstock

      Affiliations

    • Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland
    • George W. Comstock Center for Public Health Research and Prevention, Hagerstown, Maryland
    • ,
  • Anthony J. Alberg

      Affiliations

    • Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland
    • George W. Comstock Center for Public Health Research and Prevention, Hagerstown, Maryland
    • Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland
    • ,
  • Elizabeth A. Platz

      Affiliations

    • Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland
    • Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland
    • James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests: Elizabeth A. Platz, Sc.D., M.P.H., Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe Street, Room E6138, Baltimore, MD 21205.

Received 20 June 2006; accepted 14 December 2006.

Objectives

To examine the association of cigarette smoking with subsequent fatal prostate cancer.

Methods

Two private censuses were conducted in Washington County, Maryland, in which 26,810 adult men in 1963 and 28,292 in 1975 provided smoking information. Prostate cancer deaths through 2000 (1963 cohort, 240 deaths; and 1975 cohort, 184 deaths) were ascertained by review of the death certificates. Poisson regression analysis was used to estimate the rate ratio of prostate cancer death adjusted for age.

Results

Overall, cigarette smokers in the 1963 census cohort were not more likely to die of prostate cancer than those who had never smoked cigarettes, pipes, or cigars when considering the total follow-up period. However, current smokers of 20 or more cigarettes per day (rate ratio 2.38; 95% confidence interval 0.94 to 5.99) and former smokers (rate ratio 2.75; 95% confidence interval 1.13 to 6.74) had a greater risk of death from prostate cancer during the first 10 years of follow-up. Weaker positive associations of prostate cancer death with current and former cigarette smoking were seen during the first 10 years of follow-up in the 1975 census cohort. Current cigarette smoking at baseline was not associated with the prostate cancer incidence.

Conclusions

The lack of an association between cigarette smoking and prostate cancer incidence, but the tendency of greater prostate cancer mortality in former and current cigarette smokers earlier in the follow-up period is consistent with other studies in which smoking was assessed once at baseline.

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 This study was supported by the Maryland Cigarette Restitution Fund at Johns Hopkins University (to Dr. Alberg). Dr Rohrmann was supported by the Fund for Research and Progress in Urology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. Dr. Comstock was partly supported by a Research Career Award (HL 21670) from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

 These data were supplied in part by the Maryland Cancer Registry, Department of Mental Hygiene, Baltimore, Maryland. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene specifically disclaims responsibility for any analyses, interpretations, or conclusions.

PII: S0090-4295(06)02644-6

doi:10.1016/j.urology.2006.12.020

Urology
Volume 69, Issue 4 , Pages 721-725, April 2007

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