Analgesics and cancer of the renal pelvis in New South Wales

Abstract

A lifetime history of analgesic and tobacco consumption was obtained by a questionnaire completed at interview from 67 patients with carcinoma of the renal pelvis (40 women, 27 men) and 180 control subjects drawn from two sources, friends of patients and persons attending a health screening clinic. Regular consumption of analgesics conferred a tenfold relative risk of renal pelvic cancer in women and in men a risk ratio of 4–8. The fraction of cases for which analgesic consumption was an attributable risk was 0.74 in women and 0.43 in men. The effect of tobacco, much less than that of analgesics, was significant only in women (risk ratio approximately four; attributable risk 0.4), and no dose‐response relationship was demonstrated. Relative excess risks suggested a synergistic effect when both analgesics and tobacco had been consumed. Standardized risk ratios indicated a dose‐response relationship for both phenacetin‐containing and non‐phenacetin analgesics: moderate consumption doubled the risk of renal pelvic cancer, and heavy consumption increased the risk to 6–16 times that for nonconsumers.