Although smoking is the major cause of lung cancer for everyone, more non smoking women than non-smoking men get lung cancer. |
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The death rate among non-smokers, however, is higher among men than among women. |
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In a study of people with the most common type of lung cancer, nearly 80 percent of the non-smokers were women. |
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Nearly 2 out of every 3 people who die from second hand smoke each year are women. |
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For women who have been smokers, the risk for lung cancer remains even 20 years after quitting. |
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Between 1930 and 1997, lung cancer death rates for American women rose 600 percent, largely because of the increase in the number of women who smoked. |
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Women who smoke are 13 times more likely to die from lung cancer than women who have never smoked. |
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Women who smoke have a harder time quitting than men who smoke. |
Lung cancer in women is a different disease than in men. |
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Women’s cells may get more easily damaged by tobacco smoke than men’s cells. |
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Studies suggest estrogen may play a role in the development of lung cancer among women. |
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Women with lung cancer usually live longer than men with the disease. |
Older men aren’t the only ones who develop lung cancer. |
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Women make up over 40 percent of the lung cancer cases among people under 50 years old. |
By the time lung cancer’s symptoms appear, the disease is often in an advanced stage. |
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As with men, the majority of new lung cancer cases in women will be diagnosed at a late stage. |
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Only 15 percent of women and men with lung cancer survive more than 5 years, while 88 percent of women with breast cancer survive more than 5 years. |
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Race may play a role in lung cancer. |
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African-American women develop lung cancer at about the same rate as white women, even though smoking rates are lower among African-American women. |
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While African-American and white women have the highest rates of dying from lung cancer, Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic women have the lowest rates. |
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African-American women who have never smoked have higher lung cancer death rates than white women who have never smoked. |
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(used with permission from the National Lung Cancer Partnership) |
