Smoking long or ultralong cigarettes riskier than normal sized ones

Smoking long or ultralong cigarettes can cause greater risk of lung and oral cancer than regular and king-size cigarettes, a new study has revealed.

"We found that of smokers of long or ultralong cigarettes have higher concentrations of tobacco specific carcinogens in their urine than smokers of regular or king size cigarettes," Constantine Vardavas, MD, senior research scientist, Harvard School of Public Health, said.

Vardavas and colleagues compared urine tests among 3,699 smokers of regular, king-sized and long or ultralong cigarettes using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) from 2007-2010.

Smokers of king-sized cigarettes accounted for 53 percent of total smokers, smokers of long or ultralong cigarettes constituted 31.5 percent, and smokers of regular-sized cigarettes made up the remaining 15.4 percent of the smoker population.

They found that smokers of long or ultralong cigarettes had significantly higher levels of NNAL-an indicator of tobacco-specific carcinogen-in their urine.

In addition, researchers found that older smokers, non-Hispanic blacks, and females had a greater tendency to smoke long or ultralong cigarettes.

"While the significant risks of smoking are well known and accepted, very little information exists on the health risks of different sizes of cigarettes," Darcy Marciniuk, MD, FCCP and President of the ACCP, said.

"This study indicates that there is an added risk to those smoking long and ultralong cigarettes," Marciniuk added.