Women and Lung Cancer

Added to that, here's an excerpt from http://www.themesotheliomalibrary.com

"Data from the Feb. 10 2007 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology released show that lung cancer among non-smokers is more prevelant than originally thought, with women more at risk than men. The researchers used data sources that compiled over 1

million individuals between the ages of 40 to 79 from the United States and Sweden. What they found was startling. On average, 14.4 to 20.8 cases per 100,000 person-years were from never-smoking women. The data was a bit more promising for men with only 4.8 to 13.7 cases per 100,000 person years. However, this is alot less for current smokers who contract cancer at rates 10 to 30 times these numbers.

This study gives an indication that if we take the whole population of the United States roughly 8 percent of lung cancer cases in males and 20 percent of cases in females are from people who never smoked.

However, this study does not determine the reasons why women are more likely to be diagnosied with lung cancer even if they are not smokers. A reason proposed is that men are more likely to smoke, therefore secondhand smoke exposure could be more prevalent among women who are companions of those men. Furthermore, there are other potential links to why lung cancer occurs in never-smokers in general. These include environmental pollutants, occupational exposures including asbestos, chromium, arsenic, and radon."

Abdulrasool Sumar of AL 2:37AM September 24, 2008