RISK-FACTORS FOR LARYNGEAL-CANCER

This case-control study comprised 100 histologically verified laryngea l cancer patients and 100 hospital controls matched with cases by sex, age and place of residence. The following variables were tested for t heir association with cancer of the larynx. marital status, educationa l level, hard liquor consumption, cigarette smoking, unfavorable worki ng conditions, sudden and frequent temperature changes at work, cold h ousing, loud speech at work, frequent hoarseness, frequent and persist ent cough, persistently swollen neck glands, tonsillectomy and larynge al surgery. According to conditional logistic regression analysis, sig nificant association with laryngeal cancer was found for unfavourable working conditions for more than 10 years (OR = 4.36; 95% CI = 1.92-9. 91), hard liquor consumption for more than 5 years (OR = 2.59; 95% CI = 1.14-5.87), cigarette smoking for more than 10 years (OR = 7.29; 95% CI = 2.41-22.09), tonsillectomy (OR = 4.80; 95% CI = 1.61-14.30) and frequent and persistent cough prior to disease (OR = 8.17; 95% CI = 1. 72-38.76).