"Smoking, Overwhelming Impact on Lung and Laryngeal Cancer Occurrence... 54 Times Risk for Small Cell Lung Cancer"

[Financial News] The National Health Insurance Corporation announced on the 11th that the impact of smoking on the occurrence of lung and laryngeal cancer is significantly higher than other major cancers. This study, conducted by the Health Insurance Research Institute of the Health Insurance Corporation, analyzed laryngeal cancer, which is a target of tobacco litigation, along with colorectal cancer (2nd), lung cancer (3rd), stomach cancer (5th), and liver cancer (7th) among the top 10 cancers based on the 2022 National Cancer Registration Statistics.
By comparing people with the same living environment and genetic risk score (PRS), the cancer risk and attributable risk due to smoking were calculated.
As a result, the risk of small cell lung cancer occurrence in current smokers with 'more than 30 years and more than 20 pack-years' was 54.5 times higher compared to non-smokers. Squamous cell lung cancer was 21.4 times, and squamous cell laryngeal cancer was 8.3 times. In contrast, colorectal cancer was 1.5 times, liver cancer 2.3 times, and stomach cancer 2.4 times.
The difference was also stark in the degree of contribution (attributable risk) of smoking to cancer occurrence. Small cell lung cancer was 98.2%, virtually all related to smoking, with squamous cell laryngeal cancer at 88.0% and squamous cell lung cancer at 86.2%. These figures are significantly higher compared to colorectal cancer (28.6%), stomach cancer (50.8%), and liver cancer (57.2%).
The influence of genetic factors was relatively negligible. In the case of squamous cell lung cancer, the genetic contribution was only 0.4%, whereas colorectal cancer (7.3%) and stomach cancer (5.1%) showed much higher figures.
This analysis is the result of tracking the health examination, genetic risk score, central cancer registration data, and health insurance qualification data of 136,965 participants from 18 private screening centers nationwide from 2004 to 2013 until 2020.
Sunmi Lee, head of the Health Insurance Policy Research Office, emphasized, "The contribution of smoking to lung and laryngeal cancer is overwhelmingly high compared to other cancers, and the genetic influence was extremely low," adding, "The causality between smoking and cancer occurrence has become clearer." She continued, "The corporation is continuously preparing empirical evidence necessary for tobacco litigation based on big data."

vrdw88@fnnews.com Jungmo Kang Reporter