On the occasion of the 22th Congress of Pneumology of French Language to be held in Lyon at the end of January 2018, the Professor Alain Vergnenegre takes stock of lung cancer, very common in France with 49.000 new cases every year.
LUNG CANCER, MORTALITY AND TOBACCO
With 49.000 new cases each year, this lung cancer progress. It occupies the 2th place of the cancers in the man - behind that of the prostate - and the 3ème in the woman - after that of the colon-rectum then of the breast. If the number of cases increases very slightly in humans, even stabilizes (near 7 case on 10 however), it progresses however in women: a phenomenon that is explained by the shift in the evolution of smoking practices (decrease in male smoking and increase in female smoking) and the appearance of cancers related to these consumption, 20 30 years later.
As a result, lung cancer is becoming the leading cause of female cancer death. Thus, 30.000 lung cancer deaths, with an average mortality rate down -0,5% per year for some and + 4,6% for others, over the period 2005-2012.
It should be known that lung cancer remains the most common worldwide with 1,8 million new cases estimated (figures 2012) which represents 12,9% of all cancers. Among them, 1,2 millions of new cases concern men (1er rank) and 580 000 women (3 rank).
Lung cancer is diagnosed late: The symptoms are not specific and when discovered, it is often very advanced and metastatic. The average age of diagnosis is 66 years in men and 65 years in women, that of death is 68 years in men and 67 years in women. However, deaths of younger and younger subjects are observed. If the survival rate increases slightly (from 13% in 1989-1993 to 17% in 2005-2010), it remains unfortunately bad. At five, this is less than 15%.
The estimated number of deaths is 1,6 million, which is 19,4% of the number of deaths with respectively 1,1 million in men (1er rank) and 520 000 in women (2 rank). The highest lung cancer risk rate is in developed countries, with a higher incidence in North America - where women are more severely affected than in France by the disease - as well as in Europe eastern and central Europe, mainly because of the lack of a strong anti-smoking policy.
In the United States, lung cancer concerns 223.000 case and is causing 156.000 deaths. Asia is also very concerned about the disease, which also affects many women. In Africa or Russia, where the available data are weak, one can simply say that smoking is the main cause of lung cancer.
Tobacco is the main risk factor for bronchial cancer: it is responsible for nearly 81% of deaths. It is estimated that a patient is at a very high risk as soon as he reaches a pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years. The higher it is, the higher the risk as well as the age of exposure to tobacco. The pathology can however occur in subjects who have never smoked: this is the case for 21% of them.
Source : Senioractu.com/
