[Smoking and the main histological types of lung cancer--a case study carried out at Lyautey University Hospital, Strasbourg, between 2000-2001].

Lung cancer mortality is a major public health problem. Smoking, the most important aetiological factor, is responsible in almost 85% of lung cancer cases. Tobacco smoking is associated with almost all histological types of lung cancer. In a retrospective study, carried out on 304 patients (244 men and 60 females; average age 63.4 years), diagnosed between January 1st, 2000, and December 31st, 2001, we investigated the importance of smoking, the age of beginning of smoking and the association of different histological types of lung cancer with smoking. Twenty-one patients were non-smokers, 123 ex-smokers and 160 current smokers, with an average number of PY of 43 (2-120). Age at the start of smoking was between 10-19 years for the most important number of patients. In concordance with others studies, squamous cell carcinoma was on the first place in men (47.1%) and in smokers (43.81%), while in the women and non-smokers it was an adenocarcinoma (33.3%) and (52.38%). The squamous cell carcinoma remains the most frequently found in our study; the increase in adenocarcinoma is associated with changes in the composition and consumption of cigarettes.