OCCUPATIONS, CIGARETTE-SMOKING, AND LUNG-CANCER IN THE EPIDEMIOLOGIC FOLLOW-UP TO THE NHANES-I AND THE CALIFORNIA OCCUPATIONAL MORTALITY STUDY

What jobs are associated with the highest and lowest levels of cigaret te use and of lung cancer? Are there gender differences in these jobs? Two data sets - the Epidemiological Follow-up to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHEFS) and the California Occupation al Mortality Study (COMS) were analyzed to answer these questions. For females, the broad occupations ranking from highest to lowest cigaret te use in the NHEFS was: transportation operators, managers, craft wor kers, service workers, operatives, laborers, technicians, administrati ve workers, farm owners and workers, sales workers, no occupation, and professionals. The corresponding ranking for males was: transportatio n operators, no occupation, laborers, craft workers, service workers, technicians, and professionals. The highest-ranking jobs in the COMS w ere waitresses, telephone operators, and cosmetologists for women, and water-transportation workers, roofers, foresters and loggers for men. Teachers were especially low on all four lists. This study could not determine whether employment within any occupation encouraged smoking or if smokers selected certain occupations.