New Study: Non-smoking Asian women are more at risk of lung cancer

For years, men have always been more likely to get lung cancer than women – until now.

Recent studies have been flipping the script on this trend, revealing that the rates of lung cancer among women – in particular, younger women – and non-smokers are rising.

LUNG CANCER: WOMEN ARE MORE AT RISK TODAY – EVEN IF THEY DO NOT SMOKE

Globally, while the number of men diagnosed with lung cancer has fallen over the past two decades, it’s risen for women by 27%. Researchers haven’t figured out why, although some studies suggest that it might be due to the fact that women react differently to nicotine, and more adversely to the carcinogens found in tobacco.

And this doesn’t just apply to smokers. “Never-smokers”, as they are referred to in the medical field, have also been discovered to be at greater risk.

A study by the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) found that the 3 in 10 lung cancer patients here are ‘never-smokers’, and the numbers are rising. In fact, despite never having smoked, more than half of ‘never-smokers’ seen at NCCS are typically diagnosed with advanced stages of lung cancer (i.e. Stage 3 or 4).

According to Dr. Ang Mei Kim, a consultant at NCCS, non-smoking women are more vulnerable to than non-smoking men. The numbers are staggering: 70% of ‘never–smokers‘ diagnosed with lung cancer are women. This is also true in the UK, where a study of lung cancer patients found that one in 5 women who develop lung cancer have never smoked a cigarette, compared to one in 10 men.

Why? Researchers suggest that this disparity likely exists because of their exposure to second-hand smoke. Globally, men have statistically and historically smoked more than women, which means that the chance of a non-smoking woman having a smoking man as a partner is higher. According to the BBC, inhaling second-hand smoke makes it 20 to 30% more likely for someone to get lung cancer and is responsible for 430,o00 deaths each year – an astounding 64% of which are women.

NON-SMOKING ASIAN WOMEN ARE MORE LIKELY TO GET LUNG CANCER

It also appears that non-smoking Asian women are more vulnerable to lung cancer than their Western counterparts. “Less than 4% of Chinese women in Singapore smoke, yet, Singapore has a higher lung cancer rate among women compared to other countries like Germany and Italy, where one in five women smoke,” shares Dr. Ang in an interview with Health Xchange Singapore.

It’s certainly daunting news. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy to define specific risk factors for most non-smoking lung cancer patients, according to Dr. Ang – although a few commonly-cited risk factors include exposure to second-hand smoke at home or at work, environmental pollutants, among others.

Non-smokers naturally tend to have a ‘false sense of safety’ about lung cancer, which can make it easy to overlook symptoms at an earlier stage. If anything, these recent findings point to the fact that even if you’ve never puffed on a cigarette in your life, it’s important to be aware that lung cancer doesn’t discriminate.

Sarah Khan

Photo: Getty Images

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