4.5 Lung cancer and secondhand smoke

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4.1 Background

4.2 What is secondhand smoke?

4.3 What is in secondhand smoke?

4.4 Cardiovascular disease and secondhand smoke

4.5 Lung cancer and secondhand smoke

4.6 Cancers of other sites

4.7 Health effects of secondhand smoke for infants and children

4.8 Effects of secondhand smoke on the respiratory system in adults

4.9 Secondhand smoke and pregnancy

4.10 Secondhand smoke and increased risk of infectious disease

4.11 Secondhand smoke and diabetes

4.12 Population prevalence of exposure to secondhand smoke in the home

4.13 Estimates of morbidity and mortality attributable to secondhand smoke

4.14 Public attitudes to secondhand smoke

Acknowledgments

References

Exposure to secondhand smoke is a cause of lung cancer in non-smokers.19, 20 The risk of developing lung cancer increases with extent and duration of the exposure. For exposure within the home (typically assessed by examining incidence of disease among the never-smoking spouses of smokers), the evidence suggests that the increased risk of developing lung cancer due to secondhand smoke is in the range of 20-30%. Lifetime non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke in the workplace have a similarly elevated risk of developing lung cancer, depending on degree of exposure. Research pooling data from a range of studies has estimated that non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke have about a 20% greater risk of developing lung cancer than non-exposed non-smokers.20