Cigarette smoking is causally linked to renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, associations for individual RCC histologies are not well-described. Newly-available data on tobacco use from population-based cancer registries allow characterization of associations with individual RCC types.
We analyzed data for 30,282 RCC cases from 8 states that collected tobacco use information for a National Program of Cancer Registry project. We compared the prevalence and adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) of cigarette smoking (current vs never, former vs never) among individuals diagnosed between 2011 and 2016 with clear cell RCC, papillary RCC, chromophobe RCC, renal collecting duct/medullary carcinoma, cyst-associated RCC, and unclassified RCC.
Of 30,282 RCC patients, 50.2% were current or former cigarette smokers. By histology, proportions of current or formers smokers ranged from 38% in patients with chromophobe carcinoma to 61.9% in those with collecting duct/medullary carcinoma. The aPRs (with the most common histology, clear cell RCC, as referent group) for current and former cigarette smoking among chromophobe RCC cases (4.9% of our analytic sample) were 0.58 (95% CI, 0.50-0.67) and 0.88 (95% CI, 0.81-0.95), respectively. Other aPRs were slightly increased (papillary RCC and unclassified RCC, current smoking only), slightly decreased (unclassified RCC, former smoking only) or not significantly different from 1.0 (collecting duct/medullary carcinoma and cyst-associated RCC).
Compared with other RCC histological types, chromophobe RCC has a weaker (if any) association with smoking.
This study shows the value of population-based cancer registries' collection of smoking data, especially for epidemiological investigation of rare cancers.
Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology. 2020 May 01 [Epub ahead of print]
Ted Gansler, Stacey A Fedewa, W Dana Flanders, Lori A Pollack, David A Siegel, Ahmedin Jemal
Intramural Research Department, American Cancer Society ., Intramural Research Department, American Cancer Society., Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health., Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.