A Contemporary Epidemic in Women

• Women who smoke or used to smoke do not deserve lung cancer.  No one does.
• Lung cancer is the #1 cancer killer of women.
• It accounts for 1 of 4 cancer deaths among women, killing more women each year than breast, uterine and ovarian cancers combined.
• 17,000 women who had never smoked in their lives die from lung cancer each year.  This accounts for 20% of lung cancer deaths in women.  This number is rising.
• The rate of lung cancer among women has risen 60% since 1990.
• Lung cancer surpassed breast cancer as the #1 cancer killer of women in 1987.
• 31,000 more women die each year from lung cancer than from breast cancer.
• The 5-year survival rate for breast cancer is now 89%. / The 5-year survival rate for lung cancer is 15%.
• Total Research Funding per Breast Cancer Death:  $24,000. / Total Research Funding per Lung Cancer Death:  $1,400.

Sources:

Cancer Facts and Figures 2009, American Cancer Society / Patel JD, Bach PR, Kris MG. Lung cancer in US women: A contemporary epidemic. JAMA. 2004 / Nordquist LT, Simon GR, Cantor A, Alberts WM, Bepler G. Improved survival in never-smokers vs current smokers with primary adenocarcinoma of the lung. Chest. 2004 / Thomas L, Doyle LA, Edelman MJ. Lung cancer in women: Emerging differences in epidemiology, biology, and therapy. Chest. 2005