Lung Cancer Statistics Explained

Lung Cancer is most deadly of the cancers. In a given year, more men and more women die of lung cancer than of any other cancer. Not only do more people dies after diagnosis they die more quickly. Because Lung Cancer takes a relatively long time to develop, it is primarily a disease of those over 65. Less than 5% of lung cancers are diagnosed in persons under 45 while 66% are diagnosed in those over 65.

In the United States, Lung Cancer is second most common cancer for men, coming in just behind prostate cancer which is the most commonly diagnosed cancer. This is also true for most ethnic groups of American women except those of Hispanic origin and those from Asian and the Pacific Islands where it ranks third. In the year 2005, 107,416 men and 89,271 women were diagnosed with lung cancer, in that year 90,139 men and 69,078 women died from lung cancer. The chances that a person is still alive five years after a diagnosis of Lung Cancer are about 14 percent.

According to the National Cancer Institute, lung cancer represents 12.7% of all the cancers and is the most expensive of the cancers to treat as it represents 13.3%, of all cancer treatment expenses.

Most Lung Cancer can be directly linked to smoking. About 87% of all Lung Cancers are caused by smoking. For men, this figure is 90% and for women, 80% of Lung Cancer is cased by smoking. Not all smokers will develop lung cancer. However, it appears that smokers are about 20 times more likely than non-smokers to develop Lung Cancer.

Lung Cancer has been decreasing in men and increasing in women over the past 15 years. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the decrease in male deaths due to Lung Cancer is related to the emphasis placed on smoking cessation programs both in schools and the community beginning in the late 1970's, the ban on television advertising and increasing use of medication and patches today. Due to the decrease in smoking by men and a parallel increase in smoking by women, starting in the late 1970s, the number of cases of lung cancer in women has increased over the past several years.

The number of smokers in the US population is decreasing. As smoking is the primary cause of Lung Cancer, the decrease in smokers in the population will translate into fewer cases of Lung Cancer. Thus, the number of cases of Lung Cancer may be leveling off and the trend gives hope for the gradual decrease in Lung Cancer in the United States population which has one of the lowest smoking rates in the world.

References

U.S. Cancer Statistics Working Group. United States Cancer Statistics: 1999-2005 Incidence and Mortality Web-based Report. Atlanta (GA): Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Cancer Institute; 2009. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/uscs.

http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/lung/statistics/trends.htm

Cancer Trends Progress Report - 2007 Update, National Cancer Institute, NIH, DHHS, Bethesda, MD, December 2007, http://progressreport.cancer.gov.