Research Process Article Analysis
There has always been a debate on who is at a greater risk for lung cancer between men and women smokers (Yu et al, 2014). Papadopoulos et al. conducted a study to determine whether women are at a higher risk of lung cancer than men among the heavy smokers. The purpose of the study was, therefore, to find out the risk for lung cancer among women smokers and compare it with the male counterparts to determine if the females are at a higher risk. The research was based on the fact that it is a matter of controversy whether women are more or equally prone to the carcinogenic effects of cigarette smoking. Papadopoulos found limited information which was inconclusive on whether cancer risk is high in women or equal to men among the chronic smokers.
The researchers hypothesized that women who engage in cigarette smoking are at a higher risk of lung cancer as compared to the men. They used a population based case-control study in which they examined the risk for lung cancer secondary to cigarette smoking in terms of gender. A comprehensive smoking index (CSI) was used to represent the lifetime exposure to smoking and analysis done in the ever smokers (Papadopoulos et al, 2014). The cases were compared with a compare group to determine the risk of lung cancer among women and men.
The researchers failed to reject the hypothesis that women are at a higher risk of lung cancer than men among the smokers. Papadopoulos et al. found that the risk for lung cancer was similar among the two genders in a general view, but the risk for small cell or squamous cell carcinoma doubled for the women with every one unit increase in CSI than in the case of men (Papadopoulos et al, 2014). The authors concluded that heavy smoking might put women at a higher risk for lung cancer than it would do for men.
Reference
Papadopoulos, A., Guida, F., Leffondré, K., Cénée, S., Cyr, D., Schmaus, A., … & Woronoff, A. S. (2014). Heavy smoking and lung cancer: are women at higher risk? Result of the ICARE study. British journal of cancer, 110(5), 1385.
Yu, Y., Liu, H., Zheng, S., Ding, Z., Chen, Z., Jin, W., … & Ying, K. (2014). Gender susceptibility for cigarette smoking-attributable lung cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Lung cancer, 85(3), 351-360.
