Background: The aim was to investigate whether differential risks from cigarette smoking contribute to the disproportionate burden of tobacco-related malignancies other than lung cancer (TRM-nonLC) suffered by African Americans (AAs) compared to Caucasians.
Materials and methods: Data from two prospective cohort studies (39% AAs) established in 1960 and followed through 1990 and 2000 in the southeastern U.S. were pooled (N=5,363). Each cohort had 30 years minimum follow-up.
Results: Compared to Caucasians, the association between cigarette smoking and TRM-nonLC was significantly weaker in the AA men (hazards ratio (HR) 1.0 in AA men versus 3.6 in Caucasian men) and non-significantly weaker in the AA women (HR 1.1 in AA women versus 2.7 in Caucasian women).
Conclusion: In these study cohorts, differential susceptibility to tobacco-caused carcinogenesis was, by itself, an unlikely contributing factor to the racial disparity in tobacco-related malignancies.