Smoking and lung cancer

Smoking and lung cancer

Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer and deaths from cancer in general, responsible for 90% of lung cancers in men and 78% women.
Toxic products contained in cigarette smoke explain these devastating effects on health. Frequent exposure to passive smoking or inhalation of carcinogenic particles in the air (those arising from asbestos or radon gas) may also be responsible for lung cancer.
Lung cancer is responsible for 31% of deaths in men and 28% of female deaths due to diseases attributable to smoking.
Smoking and lung cancer
 - The chances of survival of this disease are minimal
 - 60% of those affected die in less than 1 year
 - Less than 15% of lung cancer victims survive 5 years after diagnosis
 - Smoking is responsible for 85% of all lung cancers
 - Quitting smoking reduces the risk of occurrence of lung cancer
Smoking and lung cancer
Smokers are 10 -25 times more at risk of suffering from lung cancer than nonsmokers. The risk depends on age of smoking initiation, duration and number of cigarettes consumed per day. Although lung cancer occurs after several years, the physiological changes of lung tissue are visible long before.
Increasing prevalence of smoking in women is a major source of concern in public health. In the U.S., deaths from lung cancer caused by smoking is higher in women than breast cancer deaths. In the Nordic countries, lung cancer kills more women than among men. If one takes into account that in many European countries, about 50% of women are smokers in the next decades will see a significant increase in morbidity in women.
Smoking and lung cancer
Lung Cancer Prevention

According to experts, choosing low-tar cigarettes or nicotine has no way diminish the risk of cancer. In fact, most people who smoke this cigarette inhale the smoke more deeply, without realizing it, to get the same amount of nicotine. Studies have shown that people who smoke cigarettes "light" are not more protected against various types of cancer.
It should be noted that chewing tobacco is a leading cause of oral cancer.
Lung cancer is a cancer with poor chances of healing. Instead, it can be effectively prevented through smoking cessation or reduction of exposure to cigarette smoke.
Regardless of age smoker, quitting smoking reduces the risk of suffering from lung cancer and many other diseases and conditions.
At 5 years after withdrawal nicotinic risk of lung cancer is cut in half, and at 10 -15 years after quitting, the risk is almost identical to that of a person who has never smoked.