Laryngeal cancer: smoking is not the only risk factor.

AIM

To investigate the role of smoking, alcohol, coffee consumption, demographic factors, toxic agents, and occupation in laryngeal carcinogenesis.

MATERIALS/METHODS: A case-control study included 70 patients with histologically confirmed laryngeal cancer and 70 controls with non-neoplastic conditions unrelated to diet/smoking/alcohol. Relative risk, odds ratio (OR), and 95% confidence intervals were estimated using multiple logistic regression.

RESULTS

Current smokers had 19.46 OR of laryngeal cancer compared to non-smokers (p = 0.006). The respective OR for alcohol consumption was 3.94 (p = 0.006). While the risk increased in heavy drinkers, there was no difference in duration of alcohol consumption. There was a strong and consistent relation between laryngeal cancer and the consumption of Greek/Turkish coffee cups/day (p = 0.002, OR = 1.77). Diesel exhaust fumes also seemed to increase the risk of laryngeal cancer, although the association was found to be no longer significant after analysis with logistic regression.

CONCLUSION

The present study confirmed the relation of smoking and alcohol with laryngeal cancer. However, other factors such as coffee and diesel exhaust fumes may play an important role in laryngeal carcinogenesis.