Lung Cancer in Women: Selected Topics in Epidemiology and Prevention

Abstract

Cancer is the second most frequent cause of death in women (after cardiovascular disease), and lung cancer is the most frequent cause of cancer death in women. The biologic characteristics of lung cancers do not differ markedly between women and men, although one epidemiologic study has suggested increased susceptibility of women to the carcinogenic effects of cigarette smoking, the primary cause of the majority of lung cancers. In industrialized nations such as the United States, women have always smoked less than men and continue to smoke less than men. Lung cancer incidence and mortality for women lagged behind those for men for most of this century, but they are rising more rapidly as the result of the latency period following a sharp increase in smoking in women decades ago. Currently, about 23% of adult women smoke. It is projected based on current smoking patterns that lung cancer mortality will plateau around 2010 and then begin to decline. The rate of smoking cessation in teenage women in recent years lagged slightly behind that of men. In all other age categories, smoking among women has been less. Other less frequent causes of lung cancer include radon, asbestos, other industrial chemicals, and environmental tobacco smoke. Lung cancer is an infrequent occurrence among women in cultures where cigarette smoking is uncommon. However, tobacco producers appear to be targeting advertising to women non-smokers in some countries, as they have in the United States. Where cigarette smoking becomes more prevalent among women, incidence and mortality from smoking will undoubtedly also increase in direct proportion.