URINARY COTININE AND LUNG-CANCER RISK IN A FEMALE COHORT

In a cohort of women aged 40-64 at entry, 12 h urine samples were obta ined at the beginning of a follow-up period of up to 15 years in which incident cases of lung cancer were registered as well as deaths from lung cancer. In this cohort a nested case-control study (n = 397) was carried out by measuring urinary cotinine. The method for quantitation of cotinine was sensitive enough to study lung cancer risk not only i n active smokers but also in passive smokers. The results seem to indi cate that cotinine estimations in single 12 h samples of urine art eno ugh to predict lung cancer risk Relative risk rose with increasing lev els of nicotine intake already in the range associated with passive sm oking. The smoking-related risk of adenocarcinoma was much less than t hat of other lung carcinomas.