Cigarette smoking and cervical cancer: Part I: a meta-analysis

Cancer of the cervix is the third most common cancer among women worldwide and its etiology is not clearly understood. Human papillomavirus can be found in approximately 95% of cervical cancers, but it does not appear to be necessary or sufficient to induce malignancy. In 1977,Winkelstein suggested that cigarette smoking was a causative factor in the development of cervical cancer.We report a meta-analysis of cigarette smoking and cervical disease and conclude that the data support a role for cigarette smoking as a risk factor for cervical cancer.We propose a multifactorial hypothesis involving a virus–tar interaction as the etiology of cervical cancer