ease because it often spreads in this way before it is found. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women. During the year 2000 there will be about 164,100 new cases of lung cancer in this country. About 156,900 people will die of lung cancer: about 89,300 men and 67,600 women. More people die of lung cancer than of colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined. Lung cancer is fairly rare in people under the age of 40. The average age of people found to have lung cancer is 60. If lung cancer is found and treated by surgery early, before it has spread to lymph nodes or other organs, the five-year survival rate is about 42%. However, few lung cancers are found at this early stage. The five-year survival rate for all stages of lung cancer combined was 14% in 1995, the last year for which we have national data. A risk factor is something that increases a person's chance of getting a disease. Some risk factors, like smoking, can be controlled. Others, such as a person's age, can't be changed. Smoking is by far the leading risk factor for lung cancer. More than 8 out of 10 lung cancers are thought to result from smoking. The longer a person has been smoking, and the more packs per day smoked, the greater the risk. If a person stops smoking before lung cancer develops, the lung tissue slowly returns to normal. Stopping smoking at any age lowers the risk of lung cancer. Cigar and pipe smoking are almost as likely to cause lung cancer as cigarette smoking. There is no evidence that smoking low tar cigarettes reduces the risk of lung cancer. Nonsmokers who breathe the smoke of others also increase their risk of lung cancer. Non- smoking spouses of smokers, for example, have a 30% greater risk of developing lung cancer than do spouses of nonsmokers. Workers exposed to tobacco smoke in the workplace are also more likely to get lung cancer. There are other risk factors for lung cancer besides smoking. People who work with ...
