Epidemiological aspects of cancer of the cervix.II. Hereditary and environmental factors

S TATISTICAL studies relating to the etiology of cancer have been a major activity of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health since the inception of its cancer-control program in 1926.One of the earlier studies showed a correlation between cancer and nativity.3To determine the reasons for this, studies on the relationships of cancer of different sites to heredity and environmental factors seemed advisable.A review of the literature on cancer reveals that a number of studies of the habits of individuals with cancer have been made.studies, the methodology has been to compute the percentage of individuals with cancer who had been exposed to certain environmental factors and, if this percentage was high, to draw the conclusion that there was a relationship between cancer and the given factor.Other investigators have added a control series and have compared the percentages found in the cancer group with that for the control group.From the Division of Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.Read before the American Epidemiological Society, New Haven, Connecticut, April 7, 1950.Grants from the Rockefeller Foundation enabled the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to inaugurate our epidemiological studies; and subse