Lung cancer in women

Lung cancer strikes 900,000 men and 330,000 women yearly. Among men, smoking causes more than 80 per cent of lung cancer cases. In women, smoking is the cause of 45 per cent of all lung cancer worldwide, but more than 70 per cent in North America and Northern Europe. In both men and women, the incidence of lung cancer is low before age 40, and increases up to age 70 or 75.

The rise in female smoking prevalence is a major public health concern. In the US, more women die from smoking-induced lung cancer than from breast cancer and in some Nordic countries, including Iceland and Denmark, female lung cancer deaths have begun to outnumber male tobacco victims. Considering that in several European countries up to 50 per cent of young women are now regular smokers, this will cause a disease burden that significantly reduces women’s health in decades to come.