Exposure to Radon Progeny, Tobacco Use and Lung Cancer in a Case-Control Study in Southern China

Abstract

A case-control study of lung cancer in underground tin miners in southern China was conducted to examine the interplay between exposure to radon progeny and tobacco use. A total of 460 incident cases and 1,043 controls were evaluated. Among the exposed, mean radon progeny exposures were 600 and 427 working level months (WLM) for cases and controls, respectively. The excess relative risk per WLM (ERR/WLM) was 0.28% overall, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.1-0.6%, similar to the estimate from a cohort study in a related population of underground miners. The established patterns of lung cancer associated with radon were seen; the ERR/WLM decreased with attained age and time since last exposure. Conditional on total exposure, risk was highest for exposures delivered at a low rate. The ERR/WLM did not differ significantly among current and former smokers or within categories of time since last exposure. The relative risk relationship between exposure to radon progeny and tobacco use was consistent with a multiplicative model, but the best-fitting model was intermediate between additive and multiplicative; an additive association was rejected. Adjustment for exposure to inorganic arsenic, a known lung carcinogen, reduced the estimate of the ERR/WLM from 0.86% to 0.28%. The ERR/WLM estimate was homogeneous across subgroups defined by workers not exposed to arsenic and quartiles of cumulative arsenic exposure. Although squamous cell carcinoma was the predominant cell type, small cell and adenocarcinoma histologies appeared more strongly associated with exposure to radon progeny. The finding of a stronger trend with exposure with small cell carcinomas and adenocarcinomas, compared to squamous cell carcinomas, occurred primarily at younger ages at diagnosis. Finally, the risk of lung cancer was higher if exposure to radon progeny and tobacco use occurred together than if the exposure to radon progeny entirely preceded tobacco use.