Lung cancer kills more women than breast cancer

Statistics: Lung cancer in women before breast cancer

03/10/2015

The year 2015 seems to be the turning point in cancer statistics: Researchers assume that lung cancer will overtake breast cancer as the cause of death in women for the first time. Scientists have an explanation for this: Smoking.

More women will die from lung cancer
For the first time in 2015, lung cancer will be the leading cause of cancer death in women in the European Union (EU) in women. This prognosis comes epidemiologists of the University of Milan. The scientists evaluated the World Health Organization (WHO) and Eurostat databases on cancer and deaths from 28 EU countries, with a particular focus on the most populous nations Germany, France, Italy, the UK, Spain and Poland. Statistically, more women (14.24 per 100,000) will die from lung cancer and slightly less (14.22) from breast cancer. So far, breast cancer has been the leading cause of cancer death in women.

Cancer mortality is generally declining
Overall, cancer mortality is declining in Germany and also in the EU, but not in lung cancer. According to the Federal Statistical Office, a total of 15,370 deaths were attributable to lung and bronchial cancer in 2013, compared with only 5,491 30 years earlier. According to the „Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung“ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) said Klaus Kraywinkel from the Center for Cancer Registry Data stated that because of the rapid increase in Germany, it is likely that lung cancer will overtake breast cancer in the event of death, even though it will probably take a little longer in Germany than in the entire EU.

Late effects of smoking
According to the figures, the consequences of a development that began in the 1970s, when smoking spread among women, are visible. More than half of all lung cancer cases can be attributed to tobacco use. Kraywinkel said that there is rarely such a clear relationship between a cancer and its causes. Martina Pötschke-Langer from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg also discussed cigarette consumption and explained aloud „Southwest Press“: „A steadily rising lung cancer rate is the receipt for decades of smoking of aggressively advertised women.“

„Disaster with announcement“
„It is tragic that the most preventable disease now has the highest mortality rate among cancers and is causing more deaths among women“, so Pötschke-Langer. She spoke of one in this context „Disaster with announcement“ and predicted a further increase for the next few years and then a persistence at a high level „certainly until the next decade“. She further explained that the age group of women is between 25 and 69 years „stable“ smoke. Only after massive price increases Pötschke-Langer observed a higher dropout rate.

Tobacco control through higher taxes
The Italian epidemiologists also analyzed that, in addition to lung cancer, pancreatic cancer is the only cancer in women whose share of causes of death in Europe is increasing. However, even though medical professionals know that tobacco use, alcohol abuse, obesity, diabetes, and familial stress can increase cancer risk, these causes explain only 40 percent of pancreatic tumors. Further research is needed. Already last year, the scientists who published the current study had predicted similar data. Fabio Levi from the University Hospital and the University of Lausanne, who was involved in the study, pointed out that EU and national authorities must first of all enforce tobacco control, mainly through higher taxes. (Ad)