Lung cancer is now the second most common cancer in women. Until recently, it was colon cancer, but as more and more women take up smoking, the number of female lung cancer patients is on the rise too. The Anti-Cancer Foundation is sounding the alarm on the eve of World Lung Cancer Day.
Lung cancer second most common cancer in women due to rising number of smokers
Colin Clapson
Published:
In 2021, 9,192 people were diagnosed with lung cancer in Belgium: 5,675 men, and 3,517 women. In men, lung cancer has long ranked as the second most common cancer; in women, on the other hand, lung cancer has now jumped over colon cancer.
In that same year, lung cancer claimed nearly 6,000 lives: 3,673 men and 1,994 women. It is a difficult cancer to treat, with a poor prognosis: the average survival rate five years after diagnosis is no more than 22.8 per cent for men and 31.4 per cent for women.
Tobacco
The fact that lung cancer is increasingly affecting women is very worrying says the Anti-Cancer Foundation on the eve of World Lung Cancer Day. The foundation notes the evolution is directly linked to the number of women who smoke, a figure that has been rising for several years now in Belgium.
"Tobacco is responsible for 90 per cent of these cancers. That is why it is essential that we remain committed to prevention, continue to support smokers in attempts to quit and do everything possible to create a tobacco-free generation," the Foundation says.
"Never starting to smoke or quitting are by far the best ways of fighting lung cancer."
Research
The organisation also calls for lung cancer research to get the attention it deserves. "We are investing in promising projects in this field," a spokesman said. These include research projects into resistance or insensitivity to treatments, a major problem in clinical oncology. Furthermore, the Foundation is funding a clinical trial testing a therapeutic vaccine to complement immunotherapy.