Non-Smoking Wives of Heavy Smokers Have a Higher Risk of Lung Cancer: A Study From Japan

In Japan, a study was conducted following the lives of 91,510 non-smoking wives aged 40 and above for fourteen years.  Although these wives were non-smokers, their husbands were reported to be smokers.  Mortality rates of the wives were studied to see if there was any statistical evidence showing a correlation between the husbands’ smoking habits and the wives’ risk of lung cancer.  The study showed that the heavier the husband was smoking, raised the risk of the wife being diagnosed with lung cancer.  Interestingly enough, the study also showed that women in agricultural settings had higher rates of lung cancer than the women living in urban settings.  One explanation for this was that the couples in agricultural settings come more in contact with each other than those in urban settings.  The experiment also showed that there wasn’t a correlation between smoking and any other disease or cancers.  There were a few cases of asthma and emphysema, but not enough to be statically significant.

This study had many interesting components to it.  One being the result that only lung cancer among the wives was prevalent; no other cancers and diseases were statistically significant.  Although the experiment at hand was focusing on smoking and lung cancer, the researchers also looked into other habits of the husbands and how they affected their wives.  The drinking habits of the husbands did not seem to affect their wives’ health.  The thing I found most interesting about this article was the fact that direct-smokers and second-hand smokers almost have similar ratios of lung cancer prevalence.  The smoking husbands are putting their wives in as much risk of getting lung cancer as they are to themselves.  This study should show the smokers how much they’re putting their loves ones at risk even though these people have chosen not to smoke.  So even though these wives were not smoking, they are still paying the price of their husbands’ actions.

The study that was conducted was an observational study.  These studies are typically advantageous because they are cheap and they yield conclusive data.  The participants in the study provide their own cigarettes and already know the risks of smoking and choose to smoke. The data collected for the experiment was already done in the census, which allowed researchers to observe a large population.  All the researchers had to do was observe the population and record their findings.  The experiment in itself is fairly cheap, easy and proves to yield accurate results.

In my own opinion, I strongly believe that second-hand smoking is a cause of lung cancer.  The results from this study show that the wives with heavy smoking husbands have a higher risk of getting lung cancer.  The study also shows that the more men smoke, the more their wives are affected.  This shows a direct correlation between second-hand smoke and the risk of getting lung cancer.  The study collected data from all different regions across Japan; so there was no bias.  Variables were accounted for and fixed so the data showed no other factors that would skew the results.  Even after the fixation the results were clear: second-hand smoke is definitely a cause of lung cancer.