Title: A pooled analysis of bladder cancer case-control studies evaluating smoking in men and women.
Author: Puente D, Hartge P, Greiser E, Cantor KP, King WD, Gonzalez CA, Cordier S, Vineis P, Lynge E, Chang-Claude J, Porru S, Tzonou A, Jockel KH, Serra C, Hours M, Lynch CF, Ranft U, Wahrendorf J, Silverman D, Fernandez F, Boffetta P, Kogevinas M
Journal: Cancer Causes Control 17(1):71-79
Year: 2006
Month: February
Abstract: Objective A recent study suggested that risk of bladder cancer may be higher in women than in men who smoked comparable amounts of cigarettes. We pooled primary data from 14 case-control studies of bladder cancer from Europe and North America and evaluated differences in risk of smoking by gender.Methods The pooled analysis included 8316 cases (21% women) and 17,406 controls (28% women) aged 30-79 years. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for smoking were adjusted for age and study. Exposure-response was evaluated in a stratified analysis by gender and by generalized additive models.Results The odds ratios for current smokers compared to nonsmokers were 3.9 (95% CI 3.5-4.3) for males and 3.6 (3.1-4.1) for females. In 11 out of 14 studies, ORs were slightly higher in men. ORs for current smoking were similar for men (OR = 3.4) and women (OR = 3.7) in North America, while in Europe men (OR = 5.3) had higher ORs than women (OR = 3.9). ORs increased with duration and intensity in both genders and the exposure-response patterns were remarkably similar between genders.Conclusion These results do not support the hypothesis that women have a higher relative risk of smoking-related bladder cancer than men.