HHS HealthBeat (April 19, 2007)

More smoke, more cancer

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Nonsmokers who breathe smoke because their coworkers are smokers have a higher risk of lung cancer. That’s known. What Leslie Stayner adds is how bad the danger can be.

Stayner looked at data from 22 studies done around the world. Stayner is at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, but did much of the work while he was with HHS.

He found nonsmokers who worked among smokers averaged a 24 percent higher risk of lung cancer. Sometimes it was worse:

"When we looked at individuals with high levels of exposure, we found about a hundred percent increase in risk from lung cancer." (8 seconds)

Nonsmokers with the most years working among smokers had about a 50 percent to 60 percent higher risk. The study is in the American Journal of Public health.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: April, 19 2007