Lung cancer and smoking
Lung cancer is one of the worst of all the diseases caused by smoking. It is a very difficult disease to cure. Double the numbers of people die from this each year from road deaths.How common is it?
• Over 1500 people develop lung cancer each year and 1400 die from it. Twice as many men as women die from lung cancer, but the disease is increasing among women.• It is expected to become the commonest cancer among women in the next decade as more women are now smoking.
• The disease develops 15-30 years after a person begins smoking.
What is lung cancer?
• There are four different types of lung cancer. The first three almost always occur in smokers, but the fourth can affect non-smokers as well:- Small cell lung cancer is the most common lung cancer. This is mainly a disease of smokers.
- Squamous cell lung cancer is the most common lung cancer. It mainly affects smokers.
- Large cell lung cancer gets its name from the large rounded cells seen under a microscope. It’s a smoker’s disease.
- Adenocarcinoma develops from the cells in the airways which produce mucus. It occurs in both smokers and non-smokers.
