Results presented at a pulmonology congress indicate that non-smokers and women are increasingly affected by lung cancer.
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The pulmonologists of France met from January 21 to 23, 2022 for the 26and congress of the French Language Pneumology Society in Lille. During this gathering of specialists, the presentation of Doctor Didier Debieuvre of the Émile Muller Hospital, in Mulhouse, was among the most awaited. He is the coordinator of an epidemiological study on lung cancer (KBP-2020) which delivers its results every 10 years. Two worrying trends emerge from the analysis of the data, the lung cancer increase in women and non-smokers.
Lung cancer cases on the rise in women and non-smokers
In 2000, non-smokers or very occasional smokers accounted for 7.6% of lung cancer cases. Today, it is 12.6% of cases. The reasons for this increase are multiple, genetic factors but also environmental with exposure to air pollution or chemicals in the workplace. The vast majority of lung cancer cases still concern smokers. The proportion of women diagnosed is also increasing, 34% of cases in 2020 against only 16% in 2000.
Lung cancers are difficult to treat because the diagnosis often falls when the disease is already advanced. Survival in the five years following the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer improved between 2000 and 2010, 10% versus 12.7% respectively, this is not the case for another form of cancer lung, called small cell lung cancer. If they are taken care of early enough, lung cancer can be cured, but as soon as metastases appear the task becomes more complicated and survival decreases drastically.
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