Fewer and fewer people smoke in Sweden. Nevertheless, the number of lung cancer cases is not decreasing as expected. Previous research showed that the risk of lung cancer would be greatly reduced if you stopped smoking.
– But the data we have today did not agree with that, and then we started digging into this to understand why, says Bengt Järvholm, professor of public health at Umeå University.
More common than expected among the elderly
What distinguishes the study is that it has partly looked at the development over a long period of time and partly it has started from the population as a whole.
Statistics from the National Board of Health and Welfare’s cancer register showed that the incidence of lung cancer had not decreased as much as expected.
– If you stop smoking as a young person, you can lower the risk of developing lung cancer before the age of 65. However, it does not drop in the same clear way as you get older, says Järvholm.
Swedes smoke less and less
It has also been mapped how Swedes’ smoking habits have changed.
In the 70s, about half of all men were smokers or ex-smokers. Among women, it was not as common, but since the 80s, women and men smoke about the same amount.
Since the 2000s, Swedes have largely stopped smoking in almost all age groups. Today, approximately 5 percent of the population smokes.
Several explanations
According to Järvholm, smoking is undoubtedly the biggest risk factor for lung cancer.
– The results should certainly not be interpreted as saying that it is useless to quit smoking. On the contrary, the study underlines the importance of stopping early, preferably never starting, because it may be that the risk of lung cancer is elevated longer than we previously thought, says Bengt Järvholm.
In the clip, Bengt Järvholm highlights several possible explanations for the fact that the risk of lung cancer does not decrease in step with smoking.