A collaborative study between the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute finds rates of lung cancer, historically higher among men than women, have flipped among whites and Hispanics born since the mid-1960s. The authors of the study, which appears in the New England Journal of Medicine, say future research is needed to identify reasons for the trend, as the change is not fully explained by smoking patterns.
Lung cancer causes more preventable deaths than any other cancer in the United States, and cigarette smoking contributes to about 80% of the 154,000 total deaths from lung cancer that occur each year. Overall lung cancer incidence and mortality rates continue to be lower among women than among men, because historically women were less likely to smoke, started smoking at older ages, and smoked fewer cigarettes per day. However, smoking behaviors have become increasingly similar between men and women in the United States.