| Reference (country, years of study) | Cohort sample | Cohort eligibility; follow-up | Source of exposure | Incidence/death; covariates adjusted for; comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garfinkel (1981) (USA, 1960–72) | 176 739 married nonsmoking women | ACS Study: friends, neighbours and relatives of American Cancer Society volunteers; deaths reported by volunteers; death certificates obtained from state health departments; 93% follow-up Veterans Study: questionnaire mailed to veterans holding a US Government life insurance; 85% response; death certificates supplied to the Veterans' Administration or through field work at health departments | Active smoking by current spouse | Deaths 1) Crude death rates; 2) analysis with women matched by age, race, highest educational status of husband or wife, residence and occupational exposure of husband |
| Hirayama (1984) (Japan, 1965–81) | 91 540 married nonsmoking women | 95% of the census population in the study area in 29 health centre districts; follow-up consisted of special annual census and special death registry system. | Active smoking by current spouse | Deaths SMRs |
| Butler (1988) (USA, 1974–82) | Spouse pairs: 9378 subjects; AHSMOG cohort: 6467 subjects (66% overlap) | Non-Hispanic white Adventists; spouse pairs with a nonsmoking wife; AHSMOG cohort enrolled for air pollution study; deaths ascertained by linkage to California death certificate file, national death index and notification of death by church clerks; cases ascertained with hospital history forms and review of hospital and tumour registry records; 99% histologically confirmed | Spouse pair cohort: active smoking by current spouse; AHSMOG cohort: exposure at work | Cases/deaths Adjusted for age |
| DeWaard et al. (1995) (the Netherlands, 1977–91) | 23 cases and 191 controls | Nested case–control study among women enrolled in breast cancer screening projects (DOM project, enrolment 1975–77, aged 50–64 years and Lutine Study, enrolment 1982–83, aged 40–49 years) | Exposure assessed by measurement of urinary cotinine levels in declared nonsmokers | Cases/deaths Cotinine excretion adjusted for creatinine resulted in higher odds ratios. |
| Cardenas et al. (1997) (USA, 1982–89) | 288 776 (96 542 men, 192 234 women) nonsmoking subjects | Friends, neighbours and relatives of American Cancer Society volunteers in all 50 States; aged > 30 years; death monitored by volunteers and through national death index; cause of death classified according to ICD-9. | Active smoking by current spouse; self-reported exposure at home, at work or in other areas | Deaths Adjusted for age, race, education, blue-collar employment, asbestos exposure, consumption of vegetables, citrus fruits and fat, history of chronic lung disease |
| Jee et al. (1999) (Republic of Korea, 1992–97) | 157 436 married nonsmoking women | Both spouses had to have completed the Korean Medical Insurance Corporation medical examination; aged > 40 years; cases ascertained from diagnosis on discharge summary | Active smoking by current husband | Cases Univariate analysis; multivariate analysis adjusted for age of husband and wife, socioeconomic status, residence, husband's vegetable consumption and occupation |
| Speizer et al. (1999) (USA, 1976–92) | 121 700 women, US registered nurses in 1976; unknown subcohort of nonsmokers | Female nurses aged 30–55 years, Nurses' Health Study; deaths ascertained by family members, postal service or through national death index; cases confirmed by pathology reports | Information on exposure to second-hand smoke during childhood and adulthood ascertained in 1982 | Cases Adjusted for age |
| Nishino et al. (2001) (Japan, 1984–92) | 31 345 (13 992 men, 17 353 women) nonsmokers | Residents of six primary school sectors in a city and the whole area of two towns in north-eastern Honshu, aged > 40 years; cases ascertained by linkage to the prefectural cancer registry; cancer sites coded according to ICD-9 | Any smoker in the household | Cases 1) Crude relative risk; 2) stratification by smoking status of husband and other household members; 3) multivariate relative risk adjusted for age, study area, alcohol intake, green and yellow vegetable intake, fruit intake, meat intake and past history of lung disease |
SMR, standardized mortality ratio
From: 2, Studies of Cancer in Humans
NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.