Abstract 2213: Vaping, smoking and lung cancer: A case-control study

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Nicotine exposure through the use of electronic delivery systems (vaping) has been found to elevate the risk of certain conditions of the lungs, e.g., vaping associated lung injury. However, the potential impact of vaping on lung cancer risk remains largely unexplored. We, therefore, examined the association of vaping and cigarette smoking with lung cancer risk in a case-control study conducted at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Methods: Medical records examined from the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute revealed 4,975 cases with newly diagnosed, pathologically confirmed lung cancer during 2013-2021. These cases were compared to 27,294 controls without cancer that were group-matched on a 5:1 ratio to cases by age, gender, race and year of ascertainment. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the associations between vaping, smoking and lung cancer. Results: The lung cancer cases in this study were 55% male, 88% white, with mean age at diagnosis of 62 years. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) for individuals who reported vaping and smoking was OR=21.1 (95% CI=17.1, 26.1) versus OR=6.3 (95% CI=5.8, 6.8) for smoking only. Estimates for gender and histologic cell type of lung cancer, e.g., pulmonary adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and small cell carcinoma, were consistently over threefold higher for vaping and smoking compared to smoking only (p<0.001), and the vaping effect persisted even after adjustment for comorbidities, COPD and cardiovascular disease. Conclusion: Adjusted estimates of odds ratios (OR) revealed over threefold higher risk of lung cancer among individuals who had vaped and smoked compared to individuals who only smoked. Our results suggest that the addition of vaping to smoking greatly accelerates the risk of developing lung cancer. Future studies are needed to further confirm these results. Citation Format: Marisa A. Bittoni, David Carbone, Randall Harris. Vaping, smoking and lung cancer: A case-control study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 2213.