Women Twice as Likely as Men to Develop Lung Cancer

Researchers have found that women have twice the risk of men for developing lung cancer from the use of tobacco.

In a study of 2,968 men and women aged 40 and over with some history of cigarette smoking, the researchers sought to determine which risk factors--age, gender, and number of years of smoking--when combined with the size and texture of lung nodules found on computed tomography (CT) scans affected the probability of developing lung cancer. They diagnosed a total of 77 lung cancers in the group but found that women had twice the risk of developing lung cancer as men, independent of all risk factors. The results of the study also showed that the more individuals smoke and as they age, the greater their chances of developing lung cancer.

"We found that women had twice the risk of developing lung cancer as men, independent of how much they smoked, their age, or the size and textures of nodules found on their lungs,” said Claudia I. Henschke, M.D., Ph.D., professor of radiology at New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center (New York, USA). "There is as of yet no clear consensus why women are at increased risk.”






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NY/Cornell Med. Center