Lung cancer histology in major ethnic groups among the Jews. Israel, 1962–1982

Lung cancer rates in Israel are lower than in other Western countries, not explainable by smoking habits. Due to the different relation of Squamous cell carcinoma (SgCC) and Adenocarcinoma (AC) with smoking it was of interest to study the histologic distribution in Israel. A total of 7508 histologically confirmed lung cancer cases among Jews were studied in the period 1962–82. SgCC was the leading tumor-type in Jewish men and AC in Jewish women. European-American born males in the last study period showed a decrease in SgCC rate while Asian-African born males showed a steep increase in SgCC rate, most prominent among the younger age-groups. Rates of AC increased in both, European-American and Asian-African males, but more steeply in the latter in most age-groups. Only for Large cell carcinoma were the overall rates higher in Asian-African than in European-American born males. SgCC increased in European-American born females and also steeply increased in the over 55 years old Asian-African born females. AC increased in European-American born females (both young and old), but only in the young Asian-African born females (decreasing in the older). European-American born Jews still have higher rates of both, more and less smoking related lung cancer histological types, than Asian-African born Jews. The steep increase in rates of some of the histological types m the latter with the pronounced increase in the younger age-groups is expected to cause a change in the ethnic rate-ratio which has already been demonstrated for the overall lung cancer rates. This probably reflects the acquisition of Western habits (mainly smoking) by the Jews from less developed countries.Corresponding author.