Cross-country comparisons suggest shared risk factors for carcinomas, including male lung adenocarcinoma and colon cancer development

Smoking is clearly the major risk factor for both squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) and adenocarcinomas (ACs) of the lung, although less so for the latter, where other influences appear to be important. In order to determine whether cross-country comparisons might provide evidence of shared risk factors with cancers in other organs of males, an examination of IARC/WHO data for cancer incidence was made for countries/registries in Europe, North America, Australia and Asia. Significant simple correlations, which persisted on partial analysis, were observed between lung SCCs and tumors of the larynx ( P