"Vital Signs: At Risk: Tobacco and Cervical Cancer"

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

January 11, 2005
By JOHN O'NEIL

Women who are exposed to secondhand smoke may be at greater
risk for cervical tumors, a new study suggests.

Earlier research had found that smokers had higher rates of
cervical cancer, and those findings were confirmed in the
new study, which matched information about household
smoking habits from surveys of women in Washington County,
Md., in 1963 and 1975 with cancer cases recorded later in a
county registry.

The study, published in the January issue of the journal
Obstetrics & Gynecology, also found similar, if smaller,
associations between secondhand smoking and cancer. Women
in the 1963 group who did not smoke but who lived with
someone who did were twice as likely to develop cervical
tumors as women not exposed to smoke. Tumors were more
prevalent among women exposed to secondhand smoke in the
1975 group as well, but the difference was not great enough
to rule out chance, the study said.

The study, conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins
School of Medicine, was in part supported by a grant from
the Maryland Cigarette Restitution Fund, created with money
from a settlement of a suit that states brought against
tobacco companies to recover the cost of care for people
whose health had been damaged by smoking.

The researchers acknowledged one large caveat. Because
cervical cancer is caused by a sexually transmitted virus,
it is possible that smoking patterns tend to reflect
differences in sexual habits that raise the risk of
infection.

Go to article in New York Times