Mentholated cigarette smoking and lung-cancer risk

PURPOSE: Menthol smoking may lead to a greater increase in lung-cancer risk than smoking of nonmentholated cigarettes. Mentholation of cigarettes adds additional carcinogenic components to cigarette smoke and increases retent ion times for cigarette smoke in the lungs. Only two epidemiologic studies have been conducted on menthol smoking and lung cancer, and their results a re conflicting, Of note, African American males have much higher rates of l ung cancer than Caucasian males despite smoking fewer cigarettes per day. B ecause the consumption of menthol cigarettes is much more frequent among Af rican Americans, it is of interest to examine the possible association betw een menthol smoking and lung-cancer risk in this population. METHODS: We examined the association between menthol cigarette smelting and lung-cancer risk among smokers by comparing 337 incident cases of lung can cer with 478 population controls enrolled in a case-control study of lung c ancer. Information on smoking history and other known and potential risk fa ctors for lung cancer, including dietary intake, was obtained by in-person interviews. RESULTS: The adjusted odds ratios did not differ appreciably between smelte rs of mentholated cigarettes versus exclusive nonmentholated cigarette smok ers in the overall study group of smokers. The odds ratio (OR) for 32 pack- years or more of mentholated vs. nonmentholated cigarettes was 0.90 (95% co nfidence interval (CI) = 0.38-2.12) in African Americans and 1.06 (95% CI = 0.47-2.36) in Caucasians, and did not differ for either ethnic group (p = 0.98). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the lung-cancer risk from smoking men tholated cigarettes resembles the risk from smoking non-mentholated cigaret tes. Our data do not support the hypothesis that the increased risk of lung cancer among African Americans is due to the increased prevalence of menth ol smoking. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.