Document K661KKwq0YrwO6dYo3v3vdYD2

FILE NAME: Smoking (SMOK) DATE: 1955 DOC#: SMOK006 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Book Excerpt - Industrial Aspects of Bronchiogenic Neoplasms In d u s tria l A sp e c ts o f Ilronchio.uenic N e o p la sm s hK ST K U ISUKSI.iiW . M.H. llerkeley, California Medical students usually leant as tin- classical example of occupational cancer that scrotal cancer occurred iintmi).' chimney sweeps`in 18th century England.1 Their attention would perhaps more readily he attracted to the story of lung cancer anumj; miners in the Srhiiecborg- and Joachimsthal mines.'1 The fact that approximately half of all deaths among miners in the latter area resulted 1'rum lung cancer establishes the occupational origin of this disease, in at least some cases. Furthermore, the striking increase in frequency of lung cancer and the millions of persons employed in the several 2Uth century occupations now suspected of having a relation ship to the disease confirm the importance of this subject today. Lung cancer now causes more than 18,000 deaths annually in the United States.1 Even adjusting for the aging of our population, this represents a four-fold increase during the past two decades.'1 Diagnostic techniques have improved tremendously. Dut the fact that lung cancer mortality among males has been rising much more rapidly than among females in dicates that we are dealing with a real increase in the disease. Jt now accounts for more deaths than tuberculosis in many states. llecently attention has focused oil cigarette smoking as a cause of lung cancer. Several studies1, based upon interviews with a series of lung cancer patients and a matched group of ``controls" have demonstrated a greater frequency of cigarette smoking, especially heavy cigarette smok ing, among the lung cancer jiatiepts; As a further investigation of this question7 we obtained cigarette smok ing histories from 518 lung cancer patients and a like number of matched "controls" in 11 California hospitals. The control group consisted of pa tients admitted to the same hospitals for conditions other than cancer and other than chest disease--matched for age, sex and race with the lung cancer patients, 'fables 1 and 11 indicatc the similarity of our two groups in respect to biological characteristics. The greater frequency of cigarette smoking, especially in excessive amounts, among lung cancer patients as compared with controls is shown in Table 111.. In Table IV one may observe that several other measures of the degree of cigarette smoking--age at which began, inhaling, and smoking before breakfast--all confirm that lung cancer patients smoked cigarettes to a greater extent than did the control group. Of particular interest to physicians is that so-called "ciga rette cough" occurred among approximately two-fifth of the lung cancer patients; this usually antedated the onset of illness by many years. One Chief, B ureau of Chronic D iseases, C a lifo rn ia S ta le D epartm ent of I'ttidir H ea lth , Berkeley, C alifornia. T his paper is based on a study supported i>v a re.-eau-h g r a n t, (CS-UU-J7) from the X alhm nl C ancer In stitu te , 1'tililic llealili Service, lb S. D e partment of H ealth, Kducation and W elfare. Presented at the Utith A nnual M eeting. A m erican College of Ch<--t P hysicians, San Kraticiseo, C alifornia, Ju n e Hi, 105-1. 121 >*i i. m f, N? m '.. I.'A d b ii t A r.F. I r a I fifti -* JL 422 LKSTKK HKESUOW i?:.i hundred twcnlv of the patients staled that they had n<>ti<i a cough for I five years nr more whereas only 3d of the control group gave a similar history. j These data, consistent with the other recent well-controlled investiga tions" of the subject, demonstrate a substantial correlation of cigarette smoking and lung cancer. This correlation increases steadily with the amount of cigarette smoking. Tkwih'"has most recent ly assembled the find- ings of these several studies and. using a method developed by Cornfield.* compared the relative prevalence of lung cancer among cigarette smokers and non-smokers. Table Y indicates that, for men aged 50-oD years lung cancer is four to 1] times as prevalent among smokers as among non- j smokers, and seven to 27 times as common among heavy smokers as among non-smokers. One must accept the conclusion of the New England Journal of Medi cine10 that the evidence-for cigarette smoking as a factor in lung cancer is "so strong as to be considered proof within the every day meaning of the word." TAHLE I AGE D1STR1 RUTH IN OF LUNG CANCER PATIENTS AN il CONTROLS CASKS A jfr Total U nder 40 40-40 pnrrin*ntj> 4*t -n ft O llie r T.vjn-t of Ciirriiiiiiu:i 472 to 5 ft Tntnl SIS 25 62 50-5!) 1!) GO-6!) 14 1!)4 2 in 154 16S 70 and over 4 46 50 ! T A l'.LE 11 S E X AND RA CE m S T R II'.UTIOX OF LUNG GANCE! ! PATIENTS AND CONTROLS CASKS Sox nn<f Knee Total Atlenn* rnrritiom n 4G l )th-r Tytic n f Carrm im ia 172 TnC.I 51S T otal Male - 42 W hite 41 451 4!i:> 420 461 Negro 20 20 O ther 1 Tolal l-'vmale 4 W hite a 11 32 2! 25 15 1S Negro i ~ Other n 4 t * .7 CONTROLS T ..ln l SIR 26 50 ; - 217 16!) 51 ' C O N T U O I.S Total 51R 407 461 20 12 25 18 4 7 *'.'i f.-T - I "T.^.- T ...r T .*S`' *Vt.,*j .T *; 'J. ? . -v.>V'\~/-.' ... O v--`V..'v 7 -fv; -Nv?' /..i><W**"$"-::ti* '' i ; ;.f~sF, '* iug Jl-iw- iJi..',.l;v,m->r;/*Jrj . A.J'.-T > *? III '*"* L*r'\. --..'."".;;. . VU. XXY1I1 BRONCHIOGENJC NEOPLASMS T A B L E 111 A M O UN T OK C IG A R E T T E SMOKING D URING T W E N T Y V E A L S 1'LIOK TO STUDY R E P O R T E D BY LUNG C A N C E L P A T IE N T S AND CONTROLS TASKS ruNTuoi-s l*arktfn of CigarviH-b Smokiti lVr Day KuiiiUt Total 518 IVr Cent ltio Number 518 1Vr Cent inn None 34 7 124 24 is* 4 50 HI 71 14 105 20 1-- :it)4 ... 2 or more 80 Not recorded 10 51* 11(11 ::k 15 *} 4 2 18 3 T A B L E IV < AGE OF BEG INN IN G CIG A R ETTE SMOKING, lL r- SMOKING HABITS AND "C IG A RETTE COUGH" R E P O R T E D BY LUNG C A N C E R P A T IE N T S AND CONTROLS * C A SK S C O N T m il-X C ig a r e tte S iiM ik iitu C h iir M t`W T i s l u -3 N um ber l V r ( 'n i l H u k M u ii C ig a r e tte Sm okers O n ly lV r C en t H a s <i on T o ta l N um ber IV* T e lit o il r ic a i.tu * Sm oker* O n ly 1V r (V u l on T o ta l Total 518 100 518 100 Total cigarette smokers 484 100 03 304 100 70 Began 15 y ears of age 100 34 32 11G 20 >> Began 15-24 28G 51) 55 243 G2 47 Began 25 years of age 32 7 G 35 0 7 "Inhale" 440 03 87 327 83 G3 "Smoke before b re a k fa st" 373 77 72 220 58 44 V "Cigarette cough" 204 42 30 112 ' 28 >> fi However it is not the sole cause. Some persons with lungcancer deny [; ever having smoked cigarettes. Levin11 estimates on the. basis of our data I that 70 per cent of all lung cancer may be "attributable to smoking." 1 Application of the same method of estimation to other data gives a range \ of 56 to 92 per cent "attributable to smoking." In the present and justified concern about cigarette smoking as a cause of lung cancer too little note has been taken of evidence that several occu pations may likewise be involved in the etiology of the disease. Unlike the infectious diseases where specific micro-organisms have been identified as the cause, sine <jua non, cancer appears to result from a variety of exogenous agents. The classical studies of the Schneeberg and Joaehimsthal miners do not stand alone. Machle and Gregorious1- found that those employed in cer- b "v 0 f-V;yvf TA,?'w*--"<{ii,i*tv, i<.-.iv^,ym"*11.^Xr. tv, ni" A rmpm i\ v. / "'t i' * i . li. i *- Vr .-ii i i iI ;k i i ii? i I ,1 t \ F- { 424 LKSTKK BKKSLOW ()ft.vr. 1 t lrr *. tain chromate ore operations in the United Stales experienced a ]G tinvj greater mortality for lung cancer Ilian (lift the general population of t'j same age-sex distribution. Kennaway and K ennaw ay'' using death n j ' tificate data for England and Wales noted that metal grinders, worke; exposed to road dust, coal gas and tar, asbestos -workers, cabinet make: and painters were reported as occupations more frequently among hn cancel* paljents than would be expected from the general mortality < ... ........ ' : \\\ TABLE V ; |l E S T IM A T E D P R E V A L E N C E K A T E S ' O F LUNG C A N C E R PEP. loo.oud MALI: ' OK SELEC TED ACES AND VARIOUS C IG A R ETTE SMOKING H ISTO RIES. - M 'M U F .H KSTIMATKD I'lSKVM.KNCK KATKS. QUANTITY i ' tIF.I.ATIVV : ; SMOKK1) DAILY- PHKVALKM , ! ; titine (*crr rttnlrul All qu-.i Nnt` H iavy Mii; P a tie n ts aged 50 to 50 years Doll and HillIV yiulerand Graham* 270 275 0-1 42 7 in h 25X 210 117 47 4 27 n; Sadowsky, Gilliam; ^nd Cornfield7 ioa 20X 87 44 12 i 4 Breslow, Hoaglin, Rasm ussen, and Abrams* 2 1 " 2 in 102 40 0 17 7 Roswell Park Memorial Institute 17:: 057 Ml 1 <)*f 35 ! I P a tie n ts aged 00 and 00 years t Doll and H ill' 107 1 1"7 o:: tt AVynder and G raham 1X7 i f.o Dis 70 5 20 ir Sadowsky. Gilliam, anil Cornfield' t; 71 44 71 5 t 4 . Breslow. Hoaglin. i Rasmussen, and Abrams Iox 10!) 4.".:: 78 17 25 5 Roswell P ark Memorial Institute 107 075 470 280 50 !l ci '1 E stim ated aecording to Ihe method of Cornfield.* j 'All d a ta ap p e arin g in this tattle, except for Roswell P a rk M em orial In stitu te figures a rc taken from the paper hv P.reslow et nl.r ! (Juantity smoked daily, except fo r (lie present stu d y , is all fo rm s of sm oking ex pressed as cig arettes with pipes and cig ars converted to th e ir equivalents in ciga rettes as follows: ! Doll and Hill-- 1 ounce tobacco j cigarettes a day. ! AVyndcr and G raham -- 1 cig ar ^ 5 c ig a re tte s; 1 pipeful -- 2 '.. cig arettes. Sadow sky. Gilliam, and Cornfield-- 1 cig ar = 10 c ig a re tte s; 1 ounce pipe tnbaccf -- 20 cigarettes. F or the Breslow et al. study quantity smoked daily includes only cig arette smoking 'Relative prevalence are the following ratios; heavy rate am ong heavy smokers, rate am ong non-sm okers; all q u an tities =: ra le am ong sm o k e rs /ra te am ong non smokers. `H eavy sm oking is defined as the following n um ber of c ig a re tte s or equivalents ol c ig arettes p er d ay ; Doll and Hill, ho or m ore; M 'ynder an d G raham , 05 or more Sadow sky, G illiam , ami Cornfield. -II or m ore; Breslow et al., -10 or m o re; presen study; 20 or more. S ource: Ix'vin. M. L. Etiology i,f Lung C ancer; P resen t S ta tu s . New York S tate .1 Med., 54:G, p. 770, M ar. 15, 1051. -.t " : . - . >~- 7Z : 1 A r--1' * - '-v n, **: ;A: ..avV,*- v a x x v iii RKONOHlnOENJC NEOPLASMS 425 pcrience. Information obbiincd by interview with hospitalized patients in St. Louis ami elsewhere in the United States, studied by Wynder and Graham." disclosed that painters and " hot metal workers" stood out as excessive among I n n c a n c e r patients as compared witli a control group. Mortality experience among industrial policy holders in the Metropolitan Life Insurance ('ompiiny indicated.'"according to 'Lew,'7' several occupa tions with a higher than average rale from cancer of the lung; Table VI T A ltl.i: VI " MORTALITY E X l'F.Rl KNCK AM ONt; W H IT E MALE WALK- E A R N E R S l.N'SUREH C N IiE R IN D U S T R IA L P O L IC IE S ] \ T H E M E T R O PO L IT A N L IF E INSURANCE COMPANY 1 ; OCCUPATIONS WITH PROBABLY HKHIER-THAN-AVERAOE DEATH RA TES FROM CANCER OF T H E LU ND S'" Ocru|i<Hi>iiul tirnut* Death* Kroin AH Delete Kmtu All Knm* f l*an'*T Numlecr From *f l.uiuic lVfft,ntai'i` lU'lattVf ( Death'* From All Faust'* IVr*`Hlat!f liflalivc lo Front AIJ Kurin.* of Fam*T All W age E arn ers il2,m ti Rlaeksmitlis 51W . Brick and Stone Masons'' 722 Cooks-- Hotel and Restaurant 315 Coppersmiths, Tinsmiths, Etc.*-- Nut Roofer- -1112 Engravers (Metal) and l'liotocngravci s til Laundry W orkers (Except Laborers) Mail C arriers 212 .Miners ( U nderground, excluding Coal Miners) 222 Painters and VarnishersHuuse, Shop, etc. 2,821 Plasterers P.KI Plumbers, Steam litters, and (L>slillcrs' 1,178 Hoofers ami S laters- 225 Slaughter and Packing- House Operatives 27U Street Cleaners Tannery Operatives 227 Tailors and Other Clothing Workers 1,5(0 Traveling Salesman 374 Welders* 21 r 13,858 1,082 1.5 75 I 11 2.2 324 38 2.5 48 8 2.3 (11 t! 2.2 15 5 0.0 27 5 2.3 41 7 2.1) 30 0 2.7 "(ill G2 2.2 31 5 2.G 15(1 211 2.5 ;;i 5 * > 41 7 2.5 (14 !J 2.7 33 5 2.2 228 37 2.4 4(1 10 2.7 24 *4 3.2 12.1 14.7 14.5 1G.7 14.8 33.3 18.5 17.1 30.0 1G.U 10.1 18.0 10.1 17.1 14.1 15.2 10.2 21.7 2H.2 Mil these occupations the m o rta lity from all form s of cancer was som ew hat h ig h er than average as follows: HricU anil Slone Masons, 1 5 3 'I of av erag e; Cooks-- Hotel' and R e sta u ra n t, l l ! 1'! o f a v e ra g e ; C o|i|iersm itlis, Tinsm iths, etc.-- .Not Roofers, 12371 of av e rag e; l'lum liers, Steam F ilte rs, and (bis F itte rs, 110VL of a v e ra g e ; Roofers and S laters, 11275 of a v e ra g e ; W elders, 120'. 1 of average. `Lew, E. A., Use of Life In su ran ce Com pany lleeurds, for Cancer Studies. A rch, of lnd. Ilyg. and Occup. Med., 5:PJ'J-2U3, J la r., l `J52. 'v ".*V*' -v/-W~ *' < r*?V't %' ' 4-ji; LKSTKIt IIKESLUW ;i **> IWt TA III.E VII C A S E S A N I fONTIIOLS EMPLOYED F O Ii AT LEAST -- 15-YEA IIS -I N S E L E C T E D O C C U PA TIO N C 110 U I'S ` -- Orrun^iM.n J Weldors and sheet nielal workers lining welilinjr 2 Steamfiltcrs, Imilerninkers, asbestos workers 3 Electric bridge crane operators--metal industry P K K S O N S KMri.OVF. H IN O C CU PA T IO N AT I.HAST . S VKAUS -- I Cw^ (*>ntr**k tt; 14 2 t i, 1 10 i f 1 5 4 Occupations in the extraction of lead, zinc, anil copper ore ! i : 5 M arine engineers, firemen, oilers and wipers 12 r. 6 Construction and m aintenance painters 7 Cooks, commercial (excluding cannery cooks) 22 12 35 21 Occupation groups based on regrouping according to common occupational exposures a fte r detiiled examination of records. shows these occupations. Hueperln mentions several exposures suspected of being involved in lung cancer. ! Interviews with lung cancer patients and a control series in our study7 included life-long occupational histories taken by persons skilled in occupa tional analysis. Information about every occupation in which the person had engaged was so detailed that the session often lasted two hours or more. It covered an exact description of the work, the industry, the dura tion of employment, known exposures to toxic materials, and other factors. Interviewer bias as to the occupational data can be practically ruled out ; . inasmuch as both lung cancer patients and the controls mentioned hundreds j J of occupations, none of which was suspected by the interviewers. ` j Although the information included type of industry and exposure to known toxic agents, efforts to analyze these were not productive. There- ; fore major emphasis in the analysis went to occupation itself, coded ac- : cording to the United Slates Dictionary of Occupational Titles (Second Edition) Washington. 1). U. S. Employment Service. 1040. This lists j : "G7 categories. ! | Table VII presents a list of apparently significant occupations based ` upon our study. This tabulation was developed by first observing the rela tive frequency of occupations in which individuals of the case and control series had spent at least five years. This gave leads for further study. Thereafter, since the code used was not designed to reflect common occu pational exposures, analysis was carried to the examination of records of individual cases and controls. Regrouping of occupations based upon common exposures resulted in Table VII. It. appears th at exposure to 1 metallic particles or fumes, asbestos, paint and other materials appear ' to play some role. Similarity of this list to other studies, particularly that of Lew'*1 is immediately apparent. h Comparability of the findings in four studies is shown in Table VIII. These separate investigations, extending over a 20-vear period and two : - t. ' f.:*V ,K~ "T. ix *V>;<\u\.vC"3*3; *-it * He.'. .,i_;..*..>.*.'; i * - v -Cr '^1~-'- *v'v'V;.. **..'.1*'vvi?,#-':,/ *, -," ^ \ it-1-**: :n' * - - ' .l '. a r^.'8 t j it ' i f . >~! *1 VoU x x v m H K O N rilitlG K N ir NEOPLASMS J27 countries, utiii/.ed general niurtality statistics, lift* insurance statistics and interviews with hospitalized patients. The fact that such varied data, analyzed in different ways, consistently identify certain occupations attests their probable significance in the development of Iuiik cancer. Uesides the occupations listed repeatedly in Table V III--painting, welding and other metal work, steam fitting,and. other-asbestos-work--:idditibiuiI"Tvp<\s of "work are mentioned l'ragiently in the findings of studies of occupational aspects of lung cancer. These include furnace men, engineers, workers exposed to petroleum and petroleum combustion, carpenters, cabinet makers and wood workers generally. Thus, several types of employment may constitute etiologie factors in lung cancer. The most clear-cut evidence pertains to the Schneeberg and Joachimsthal mines and to chromate ore operations in the United States: in fact, one can hardly doubt the causative role of work exposure in these groups. Other studies, including our own, strongly implicate the occu pations shown in Table V III: painting, welding and other work involving hot metals, commercial cooking, metal mining, steam fitting and other asbestos work. < We are now engaged in another type of investigation designed to con firm or refute the hypothesis that these latter occupations carry an exces sive risk for lung cancer. This involves obtaining information about em ployment from persons engaged in suspect occupations. It will include cigarette smoking history as well as details about type of work and dura tion of employment in it. Such information is being assembled for approxi mately 10,000 pci-sons in the age range d5-64, now employed in each of the suspect occupations listed in Table VII. During the next few years we will observe the mortality experience of these groups through checking TABLE VIII C O R R E S P O N D E N C E OK FOU R S T U D IE S IM PL IC A T IN G S E L E C T E D O C t'll!1A TK IN S IN LUNG CA N CER Kcitmi ini y 1' \Yijmi* '(>ohttm*' Li Hrrsltiu', t t ttY Painters Metal grinders Pa inters Welders, foundry and .steel-mill win kers ami oth er " hot m etal" w orkers Painters ami varnishers-- house, shop, etc. Welders, copper smiths, tin smiths, etc. blacksm iths t Cooks--hotel and restaurant - Construction and maintenance painters Welders and shectlm-tal Workers doing welding. Electric bridge cranemivralors, metal industry Cooks, commercial (excluding cannery cooks) Miners (under ground, excluding coal-m iners) Occupations in the extraction of lead, zinc ami copper ore Asbestos workers Plumbers, steamfitters and gasfitters S tcam littci s, boilermakers, as bestos workers -w i ./: ... ; '" <*srev-visr* *1* J ri *** 5*?5R37Tr ---K'jre. ' '-'3 J f1; i - i ~ i i *. - ; f r - -rr' r-^% i " i fj I l:; . -i* f? f j 7^ n ! *-Tt , - .. . .i : ", . 'l '. i. ' * t . . ; . ' ,, /> *' >' '* *^V - VX*. >v--V ^ " r * * f .*-? - ' ..L.~ A'- T^l:S31t .f{.-vvVV'X'VX">vI.i.^rt.f>a'ii~a>v.*vi,i`ril.m:v *s*1 .ju. 5;<rvi'; i ` f n *V I 4. * f,, fI +> * .* V!;' > r * . i * i,* I *l , * ri i 428 LESTER JiUKSLOW o r t.^ r . uns with the vital statistics imlex of the California State Department of Public ! Health. Thus, the actual lung cancer mortality rates will be determined for persons in occupations identified by previous studies as possibly having etiologic significance. Comparison of the rates with that of the general population of the state (corrected Tor_age-se.\distribution) will"indicate ---- the degree of excessive risk, if any. in the occupational groups. If their 1 lung cancer mortality rate substantially exceeds the rate for the general j population, one may conclude that some occupational exposure is involved. j Thereafter it will be necessary to determine the precise environmental | agent and undertake preventive measures. As occupations are identified as causative factors in lung cancer we will be in a better position to establish control of this disease not only by prevention, but also by intensive case-finding efforts in high risk groups. SUMMARY Lung cancer has increased strikingly in recent years: it now causes more than 18.000 deaths annually in the United States. Although much evidence incriminates cigarette smoking as a major factor in the disease, it is not the sole cause. Previous studies are cited to indicate the role played by occupational exposure. Interviews with 518 lung cancer patients in ('alifornia hospitals, and a like number of non-cancer "control" patients, confirmed the greater frequency of cigarette smoking among lung earner patients. The inter views also covered life-long occupational history. Analysis of this data disclosed that the following occupational groups appeared with substan tially greater frequency among the lung cancer ease histories, as com pared with the controls: welding and sheet metal workers doing weld(ing; electric bridge crane operators, metal industry: construction and maintenance painters; commercial cooks: occupations in the extraction of lead, zinc and copper ore: steamfitlevs. boilermakers, asbestos workers; marine engineers; firemen, oilers and wipers. The correspondence of this list of occupations with those arising from other studies of occupational factors in lung cancer is demonstrated. Further work is underway to confirm or refute tin- hypothesis that these occupations carry an excessive risk for lung cancer. jiEstr.M i:x El cancer del pulmon ha aiimentailo notablemente c los a nos reeientes: ahora causa m as do 18.000 defuneiones al aim on los E slados Vnidos. Aunque oxislon evidcncias do qne el fumar cigarrillos tienc gran responsabilidnd en la enfermedad, no es la (mica causa. Existen trabajos anteriorcs quo sc citan indieaudo el pa pel que dcsempenn la exposieion orupacinnal. Las ontrevistas llcvadas a calm eon 51S enfernms de cancer del pulmon cn los hospitalos do ('alifornia y con un mimero igual de enfermos de "control'' no cancerosos, eonfirniu la gran froeuoncia del cancer entre los p s p g g s g g ' V* t. V"L XXVIII JHtO.NfllimiilNIC NEOPLASM S -12'J fumadorcs de citfarrillos. Las ciilrevistas incluyeron tambien las historias ocupacionalcs de tuda la vida. El analisis do oslos dalus descuhrio quo lus siguienles grupos de ociipaciones mostraron dentodo substantial mayor frecitencin entre las historias de cancer del ptilmon on comparacion con los controles: trabajadores on soldadura y enlamina deatcero, operadoresde yruas electricas mi los ptienles, iiulustria dc metales, pintores de construccioncs y dc nuuilenimiento, cocincrns comcrdalcs, trabajados cn la extraction de plmno, zinc y cobrc dc los mincralcs, trabajadores ini maquinas dc vajior, constructores dc calderas, trabajadores ,de asbestos, maquinistas marinos, bomberos, enjfrasadores y limpiadorcs. La correspondencia tic csta lista dc ocupacioncs con las qtte resultan de otros estudius dc facturos de ocupacibu se denutestra. Esta en preparation mas investiracidn para conlirmar o rclutar la Jiipotcsis de cjue cslas octipaciones tieiien consist) un rie.<Ko mayor conrcspcclo al cancer. RESUME La.frequence du canter pulmtmairc s'est accrue de faqon frappante ces derniercs annees. 11 cause maintenant plus de 18.000 deces jiar an aux Etats-Unis. Ilien que, de toute evidence, on puisse incriniiner la fumee ties cigarettes comme facteur principal de cette atTection, ce n'est pas la la cause unique. L'auteur cite les etudes anterieures qui out montre le role jotie par certains risques professionnels. L'interrojratoirc tit: 518 ntalades des hbpitaux de Californie, atteints de cancer pulmonairc, et il'un nombre semblable tie ntalades temoins non cancereiix. conlirme la plus grande frequence des funteurs chez les pre miers. L'interrotfatoire ]>orta aussi sur les antecedents professionnels de toute leur existence. L'analvse de ces donnees a demontre que comparativement au jfroupe temuin, les professions suivantes figurent avec une fre quence. notablement plus grande dans les cas de cancers: soudeurs et ouvriers lantinetirs travaillant dans la soudure, conducteurs de jjrue, ouvriers de I'industiie nietaHurj'iquc, peintres cn bailments, cuisiniers, travaillcurs s'uccupant de 1'extraction du plantb ou du zinc, on des minerals cuivreux. cli.audronniers, contlucteurs de machines a vapeur, ouvriers exposes a y'amiante, ntecaniciens tie la marine, pompiers, graisseurs ct nettoyeurs. Cette lisle de professions est en accord avec cellos tpii out ete etablies au emirs d'alitres etudes ties i'acleurs professionnels dans la frequence du cancer. Des travaux ullerieurs sold en coin's pour confirmer on iniirnter i'h.vpothe.se selon laquelle ces professions comporlent nil risque de cancer extremenient important. REFERENCES 1 Pott, P .: "Chirurjiit-al O bservations," London, 3775. Pp. 03-08. 2 Rostuski, U,, Saupe, E. and Schmorl. " Die Jierck rn n k h eit tier E rzberirleute ini Schneelieltf im Snehsen (Sehiieeberjter l.iiniteitki ebs'l ," '/.t.srhr. f . Krrhxfvrsclt, 23:3011, 1P20. 3 Pit-chan, A. ami Sikl, It.: " C am el of tbc Lim e in the M iners of Jaehyinov (Joachim s th a l) Am. J. i/i Cf.'tfcer, li:iSl, lii:"2, 4 Vital S tatistics of the Uniteil Slate.s, I'.iati. I'. S. 1le p artm e n t of H ealth, E ducation ami W elfare, Public H ealth Service. N ational tllliee of V ital S tatistie s, Vol.'ll, )). s - . - t - r r - - ,Vf '`, ''Ai* i;r> . ( cf ^ *"''.`-'gi"'* * % *s< *` * :v i cj ;*n * 1, * t l I * j I r r ) 'i ' M \ rt { y ,: \ rx,3*--F>$3. S feii'' ^ }U : ><S li` * S i J8- (5=9?1 ;r #: P f 'i ; ; : '| ; i- 45$^ r* \ '-S |!-*v?*;.*-:', ' -7: k, J * > *1 * * ;-;.y~- 'i-^! y;*y:r-^,'JA! # ' ' : HhfcSM: 430 LESTER BRESLOW Or<nh^r, 1WS --5 "V ital S tatistic s of the U nited S tate s. 1930. IT. S. 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