New England Journal of Medicine 1979 - Correspondence

Our plain-English summary of New England Journal of Medicine 1979 - Correspondence, by O. Auerbach, E.C. Hammond, L. Garfinkel (1979).

The study

• Authors: O. Auerbach, E.C. Hammond, L. Garfinkel
• Published: New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 300. June 14th 1979
• Type of article: Letter
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This item is a letter, not a research study, and it does not concern asbestos. In it, the authors replied to letters criticizing their earlier report comparing bronchial epithelium (the lining of the airways) in smokers who died from 1955 to 1960 with smokers who died from 1970 to 1977. They wrote that their study did not bear directly on whether low tar and nicotine cigarettes lower cardiovascular disease. Responding to concern that more damaged tissue in the earlier group biased the comparison, they stated that they had eliminated subjects in that group with a great deal of denudation. They also said that most early-period patients had 45 to 55 satisfactory sections. They acknowledged age differences between the groups but said age adjustments and a separate matched-pairs analysis gave substantially the same results. They noted that the earlier subjects had smoked 70-mm cigarettes. The authors suggested that faster burning of the newer 85-mm reduced tar and nicotine cigarettes may be one reason those cigarettes are less harmful.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Correspondence (the authors' reply to letters about their earlier article); not an original study
• Who was studied: Refers to the subjects of the authors' earlier autopsy study of bronchial epithelium: smokers who died 1955 to 1960 compared with smokers who died 1970 to 1977. No numbers are given in this letter.
• Exposure: Cigarette smoking: 70-mm cigarettes (earlier group) compared with 85-mm reduced tar and nicotine cigarettes (1970s). No asbestos exposure is discussed.
• Main results:
  • The authors stated that their study did not bear directly on whether low tar and nicotine cigarettes reduce cardiovascular disease.
  • To address denudation of epithelium in the 1955 to 1960 group, the authors said they eliminated subjects in that group with a great deal of denudation.
  • The authors stated that most patients in the early period (1955 to 1960) had 45 to 55 satisfactory sections.
  • The authors stated that age adjustments, and a separate analysis of matched pairs, showed substantially the same results.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors suggested that faster burning of the 85-mm reduced tar and nicotine cigarettes may be one reason they are less harmful. They maintained that more detailed smoking histories could not change the large differences they observed between the two groups.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors acknowledged differences in age distribution between the two groups.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Epithelium.

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