The association between tobacco smoke and cancer deaths — beyond lung cancer deaths — has been strengthened by a recent study from a UC Davis researcher, suggesting that increased tobacco control efforts could save more lives than previously estimated.

The epidemiological analysis, published online in BMC Cancer, linked smoking to more than 70 percent of the cancer death burden among Massachusetts men in 2003, more than double an estimate of 34 percent in 2001.

“This study provides support for the growing understanding among researchers that smoking is a cause of many more cancer deaths besides lung cancer,” said lead author Bruce Leistikow, a UC Davis associate adjunct professor of public health sciences.

“The full impacts of tobacco smoke, including secondhand smoke, have been overlooked in the rush to examine such potential cancer factors as diet and environmental contaminants. As it turns out, much of the answer was probably smoking all along.”

Leistikow used National Center for Health Statistics data to compare death rates from lung cancer with death rates from all other cancers among Massachusetts males. The assessment revealed that the two rates changed in tandem year to year from 1979 to 2003, with the strongest association among males from 30 to 74 years old.

Smoking is a known cause of most lung cancers, and the study authors concluded that the very close relationship over 25 years between lung and other cancer death rates suggested a single cause for both: tobacco smoke.

“The fact that lung and nonlung cancer death rates are almost perfectly associated means that smokers and nonsmokers alike should do what they can to avoid tobacco smoke,” Leistikow said. “It also suggests that increased attention should be paid to smoking prevention in health care reforms and health promotion campaigns.”

The study is available online: www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/8/341

NEED SUPPORT TO STOP SMOKING?

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: (800) QUIT NOW or 1800quitnow.cancer.gov

American Cancer Society: (800) 227-2345 or cancer.org

American Lung Association: (800) 586-4872 or lungusa.org

National Cancer Institute: (877) 448-7848 or smokefree.gov

Karen Finney is a senior public information officer for the UC Davis Health System.