The association of economic status with the occurrence of lung cancer.

Lung cancer in men was shown to be inversely associated with economic class by analysis of 1959-61 mortality rates from Buffalo, New York. Using five economis strata, white men below and above age 55 in the poorest group had rates 2.6 and 3.8 times higher than those in the richest. For women, the trend was not significant. The question that was investigated was whether, for males, an economic-class trend for smoking existed which paralleled that for lung cancer. Individuals from a Buffalo sample survey were classified according to cigarette smoking habits. Age was found highly associated with both smoking and economic class. In data from white males stratified for age, no significant association was observed between smoking and econimic class. In women, the upper economic groups smoked more, particularly those above age 55. Thus, a strong inverse economic class gradient for lung cancer in men, observed by other investigators among women, cannot be explained by class-related cigarette smoking patterns alone. The possible interaction of cigarette-smoking with other potential etiologic factors that may be associated with economic class is discussed.