The research showing that people who smoke cigarettes are more likely to get lung cancer than those who do not smoke demonstrates a clear association between smoking and lung cancer risk. Specifically:
- Cigarette smoking accounts for about 85-90% of lung cancer cases in men and 70-80% in women, indicating a very strong link between smoking and lung cancer
- Studies show that lung cancer incidence rates increase proportionally with tobacco consumption, with a lag time of about 20-30 years between smoking and lung cancer development
- Heavy smokers have a dramatically higher risk of lung cancer compared to never-smokers, with hazard ratios as high as 17 to 27 times greater risk depending on smoking intensity and genetic risk factors
- The relationship is dose-dependent and consistent across different lung cancer subtypes and populations, with current heavy smokers having odds ratios exceeding 100 for certain lung cancer types compared to non-smokers
- While smoking is the predominant risk factor, other factors such as genetic predisposition and secondhand smoke also contribute to lung cancer risk, but smoking remains the major preventable cause
Thus, this body of research supports that smoking is a major causal factor for lung cancer, not just correlated with it. Smoking causes inflammation and genetic damage that lead to lung cancer development, and cessation of smoking could prevent a large proportion of lung cancer cases
. Therefore, the research alone demonstrates a strong causal relationship between cigarette smoking and lung cancer.
