Risk of lung cancer from residential heating and cooking fuels in Montreal, Canada.

Among the major sources of indoor air pollution are combustion by-products from heating and cooking. Concern is increasing that use of polluting heating and cooking sources can increase cancer risk. In Canada, most cooking and heating currently relies on electricity or natural gas, but, in the past, and still in some areas, coal and wood stoves were used for heating and gas and wood for cooking. In the course of a case-control study of lung cancer carried out in Montreal in 1996-2001, the authors collected information on subjects' lifetime exposure to such sources of domestic pollution by means of a personal interview with the subject or a next-of-kin proxy. Questionnaires were completed for 739 male cases, 925 male controls, 466 female cases, and 616 female controls. Odds ratios were computed in relation to a few indices of exposure to traditional heating and cooking sources, adjusting for a number of covariates, including smoking. Among men, there was no indication of excess risks. Among women, the odds ratio for those exposed to both traditional heating and cooking sources was 2.5 (95% confidence interval: 1.5, 3.6; n = 253). The findings for women suggest the need for research dedicated to exploring this association, with particular emphasis on improved exposure assessment.

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