SMOKING HABIT AND BENIGN BREAST DISEASE

The possible association between cigarette smoking and the risk of ben ign breast disease (BBD) was assessed in a case-control study conducte d in Gdansk, Poland, between 1990 and 1994. The study compared 160 wom en with newly diagnosed BBD admitted to the Gdarisk Cancer Outpatients Clinic and 160 controls, women from outpatients clinics at the Medica l University of Gdarisk. There was no convincing evidence of an associ ation, either positive or negative, between various indicators of smok ing habit (smoking status, number of cigarettes smoked per day, durati on of smoking) and the risk of BBD. Slightly lower relative risks (RRs ) of BBD in ex-smokers of 10 or more cigarettes per day (RR = 0.9; 95% confidence interval, CI: 0.4-2.2), and with duration of smoking great er than or equal to 20 years (RR = 0.8; 95% CI: 0.1-3.4), were also ob served in current smokers (RR = 0.8; 95% CI: 0.4-1.5), and (RR = 0.8; 95% CI: 0.1-3.4), but these findings were not statistically significan t.