Lung cancer rates linked to education

VILLEJUIF, France, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Europeans with the least level of education have a higher incidence of lung cancer compared to those with the highest level of education, researchers said.

However, the study published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found smoking history accounts for approximately half of the risk of developing lung cancer.

Gwenn Menvielle and colleagues examined the association of smoking, diet, education, and lung cancer in 391,251 individuals in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study.

Menvielle, who conducted the research in The Netherlands at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment and the department of public health of the Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, is now at the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale in Villejuif, France.

The researchers used participants' highest level of education achieved as an indicator of socioeconomic status and had smoking and diet information from questionnaires completed at study entry.

With a mean follow-up time of 8.4 years, 939 men and 692 women were diagnosed with lung cancer, the study said. Men with the lowest education had a 3.62-fold increased risk of lung cancer compared with men with the highest education. Women with the lowest education had a 2.39-fold increased risk compared with women with the highest education.

Diet did not appear to contribute to the inequity in lung cancer risk between participants with lowest and highest education.