Abstract

PIP: Hypothesizing that squamous cell tumors of various sites will be associated with cigarette smoking, and that site-specific cancers with predominant squamous cell histology will be strongly associated, it could be expected that cervical cancer will be strongly associated with cigarette smoking. Reports of studies bearing on this association are reviewed, concluding that smoking as a risk factor in cervical cancer has not received as much attention as it should, and all of the "established" risk factors such as marital instability, and age at 1st pregnancy or coitus are unlikely to be very useful for primary prevention, at least in the near future. It would thus appear to be useful to reexamine the smoking-site specific cancer associations, controlling for tumor cell type.