Cigar, Pipe Smoking
Boost Cancer, Heart Risks

The health risks of cigar or pipe smoking, from cancer to heart disease, are as great as those of relatively light cigarette smoking, according to a UK study.

Researchers found that among more than 7,100 middle-aged men, those who smoked cigars or pipes faced higher risks of heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and other ills, compared with non-smokers. They were also 49 percent more likely to die over the two-decade study period.

These risks were on par with those of men who smoked up to 19 cigarettes a day, according to findings published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Tobacco use in its various forms has long been known to carry serious health risks. Yet there's been a popular perception that cigars, which enjoyed a surge in popularity starting in the 1990s, offer a "safer" way to smoke.

Even medical research has been divided on the extent of the risk that cigars and pipes pose, according to the authors of the new study. They note that some studies have suggested the habit is less hazardous than cigarette smoking, while others indicate that cigars, in particular, may cause as much smoking-related disease as cigarettes do.

To investigate, A.G. Shaper and colleagues at Royal Free and University College Medical School in London looked at data from a long-running health study of British men. All participants were in their 40s and 50s when the study began in the 1970s.

The study included both primary cigar or pipe smokers---those who had never smoked cigarettes--and secondary cigar or pipe smokers--former cigarette smokers who had switched to cigars or pipes.

Shaper's team found that together, these two groups were 69 percent more likely than non-smokers to suffer a fatal or non-fatal heart attack or die of cardiac arrest. They were 62 percent more likely to have a fatal or non-fatal stroke.

Both groups also had heightened risks of smoking-related cancers, mainly lung cancer. Other smoking-related cancers included cancers of the mouth, throat, pancreas, kidney and bladder.

"Overall," the researchers write, "the pipe/cigar smokers, whether primary or secondary, experienced much the same outcomes as regular light cigarette smokers."

These findings, they conclude, add to evidence that "all tobacco smoking, not just cigarette smoking, should be regarded as hazardous to health."

SOURCE: International Journal of Epidemiology, October 2003.

Reference Source 89

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