In conclusion, we propose cumulative cigarette consumption as a new measure of the burden of cigarette use in a country. It was shown that the change over time in the lung cancer death rate of males and females can be explained fairly well by the change in cumulative cigarette consumption. The use of cumulative cigarette consumption is further shown to be valid by the consistency between observed and expected lung cancer death rate among lifetime non-smokers, ex-smokers and smokers of different numbers of cigarettes. To examine the validity of the present study, the results should be applied to the national cigarette consumption in other countries to estimate the lung cancer mortality rate.
(2005.11.22 04:09:16)