El cáncer de pulmón como marcador de tabaquismo: relación con la mortalidad por cáncer no pulmonar

objective: to assess the possible role of tobacco smoke in non-lung cancer (excluding stomach cancer) using changes in lung cancer mortality rates as a proxy for tobacco exposure. methods: a time series analysis of cancer mortality was performed to evaluate the possible association between changes in mortality rates for lung cancer and for non-lung, non-stomach cancer (nlns) from 1970 to 2003 in spanish males. to avoid problems with autocorrelation, prais-winsten regression was applied. results: changes in nlns cancer death rates showed a parallel trend with lung cancer death rates in the study period, with an adjusted slope of 1.07, 95% ci of 0.98-1.17, and r2 of 0.97. conclusion: variation in nlns cancer death rates can be accurately modelled as a function of changes in lung cancer death rates for the study period, suggesting a possible association between tobacco exposure and nlns cancers.