Women Require Less Tobacco Exposure Than Men To Increase Colon Cancer Risk

I have discovered many people don't realize that smoking tobacco increases the riwk of several cancers, not just lung cancer.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081006102533.htm

ScienceDaily (Oct. 6, 2008) — While smoking poses a health threat to both men and women, women require less tobacco exposure than men to have a significant increased risk for colorectal cancer, according to new research presented at the 73rd Annual ACG Scientific Meeting in Orlando. In a separate analysis, researchers found smoking may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer precursor lesions, particularly in patients with a strong family history of the disease.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070827095224.htm

Smoking Increases Risks For Head And Neck Cancers For Men And Women

ScienceDaily (Aug. 28, 2007) — Smoking significantly increases the risk for head and neck cancers for both men and women, regardless of the anatomic site. Published in the journal Cancer, a large, prospective study confirmed strong associations between current and past cigarette smoking and malignancies of the head and neck in both genders.

Cancers of the head and neck include cancers of the larynx, nasal passages/nose, oral cavity, and pharynx. Worldwide, more than 500,000 people are diagnosed with these cancers every year. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), men are more than three times more likely than women to be diagnosed with head and neck cancer and almost twice as likely to die from their disease.

While tobacco use has long been identified as an important risk factor for head and neck cancers, the new study finds that smoking plays a greater role in the development of head and neck cancer in women than men.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/01/040107074305.htm

ScienceDaily (Jan. 7, 2004) — Active smoking appears to play a larger role in the development of breast cancer than previously thought, according to a study in the January 7 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Tobacco smoke contains a number of human carcinogens, and metabolites of cigarette smoke have been found in the breast fluid of smokers. However, studies examining the association between tobacco smoke and breast cancer risk have yielded inconsistent results. Many studies have not been able to independently assess the contributions of the timing of exposure, age of diagnosis, or genetic susceptibilities to the overall risk of breast cancer. In addition, many of these studies did not consider passive smoking exposures, or exposure to secondhand smoke, among nonsmokers.

Peggy Reynolds, Ph.D., of the California Department of Health Services, and her colleagues examined breast cancer risk among 116,544 women in the California Teachers Study who had reported their smoking status on a survey given to them when they enrolled in the study.

Between 1996 and 2000, 2,005 of the women were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. The incidence of breast cancer among current smokers was approximately 30% greater than that among women who had never smoked, irrespective of whether they were compared to women who had or had not been exposed to passive smoking. Analysis of subgroups of active smokers revealed increased breast cancer risks among women who started smoking before age 20, who began smoking at least 5 years before their first full-term pregnancy, and who had a longer duration of smoking or who smoked 20 or more cigarettes per day.

Current smoking was associated with increased breast cancer risk in women without a family history of breast cancer but not among women with a family history of the disease. There was no statistically significant increase in breast cancer risk among former smokers, and there was no evidence of an association between passive smoking exposure and breast cancer risk.

"Our results, which suggest that active smoking may be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, argue for further research that can account for heterogeneity in individual susceptibility," the authors write. "Exposures to tobacco smoke, if causally related to breast cancer, could offer one of the few available modifiable avenues for preventing this disease."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/12/001229084058.htm

ScienceDaily (Dec. 29, 2000) — Smoking more than triples the risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma, one of the most common forms of skin cancer, researchers from the Netherlands have shown.