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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- It's been known for years that smoking is responsible for an increased risk of lung cancer, and now researchers have discovered its also responsible for an increased risk of colorectal cancer.
Tobacco was responsible for about 5.4 million deaths in 2005 alone, yet there are still an estimated 1.3 billion smokers worldwide. Researchers at the European Institute of Oncology conducted a meta-analysis of 106 observational studies looking at a total of almost 40,000 new colorectal cancer cases to determine the link, if any, to smoking.
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They found smoking was associated with an 18 percent increased risk of developing colorectal cancer. However, the association was only statistically significant after 30 years of smoking. Smokers also were found to have a 25 percent increased risk of dying from colorectal cancer than those who do not smoke. The risk of death increased with higher numbers of cigarettes per day over a longer period of time.
"We believe that smoking represents an important factor to consider when deciding the age at which colorectal cancer screenings should begin, either by lowering the age in smokers or increasing the age in non-smokers," study authors were quoted as saying.
SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2008;300:2765-2778
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