Question

The table below notes that the death rate from lung cancer among those who smoked 1 pack per day or more of cigarettes for those who had stopped smoking within one year than for current smokers.

Death Rates from Lung Cancer among Current Smokers and Ex-smokers by Length of Time since Smoking Had Stopped and by Heaviest Consumption ¹

	Age Standardized Death Rates per 100,000
	< 1 ppd cigarette smoking	≥ 1 ppd cigarette smoking
Still smoking in 2012	57.6	157.1
Stopped smoking < 1 year	56.1	198.0
Stopped smoking 1-10 years	35.5	77.6
Stopped smoking 10 or more years	8.3	60.5

¹ Hammond, EC, and Horn, D. (2014). Smoking and death rates—report on forty-four months of follow-up on

187,783 men. JAMA. 724, 1294,

Suggest an explanation for this paradoxical finding and what other conclusions can you draw from information in this table?

Answer 1

Explanation and Conclusion from Paradoxial Finding:

• An individual who smokes greater than 1 packet of cigarettes shown a high rate of lung cancer death than those who smoke less than one packet of cigarettes per day.
• Ex-smokers of smoking greater than one packet of cigarettes who stopped smoking less than one year have a high rate of lung cancer deaths than ex-smokers of less than one packet of cigarettes.
• Cigarette smokers greater than one packet can have an increased  risk of lung cancer death even after stopped smoking of 10 years or more.
• Cigarette smokers of greater than one packet of cigarettes have a high rate of lung cancer death rates compared to those who smoke less than one packet of cigarettes per day.