Residential radon and lung cancer characteristics in never smokers.

PURPOSE

The aim of this study is to assess if there is a relationship between residential radon and lung cancer histological types and patients' age at diagnosis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We conducted a multicenter hospital-based case-control study with eight participating hospitals. We included 216 never-smoking cases with primary lung cancer and 329 never-smoking controls. Controls were frequency matched with cases on age and sex distribution. Of them, 198 cases (91.7%) and 275 controls (83.5%) had residential radon measurements.

RESULTS

Lung cancer risk reached statistical significance only for adenocarcinoma (Odds ratio [OR] 2.19; 95% Confidence interval [CI] 1.44-3.33), for other histologies the results were marginally significant. Residential radon level was higher for patients diagnosed before 50 and 60 years old than for older lung cancer cases.

CONCLUSIONS

Residential radon in never smokers seems to be a risk factor for all lung cancer histologies. Individuals diagnosed at a younger age have a higher residential radon concentration, suggesting an accumulative effect on lung cancer appearance.