Statistics on lung cancer

Vocalek;14139702 said:

The Torch;13347981 said:

I sometimes doubt the direct correlation between cancers other than pulmonary and smoking and I'm starting to wonder if lung cancer really kills as much as they say. I also know ad many people that have cancer and do not smoke (or never have) than smokers that have cancer.

I have read an article in discover magazine that said nicotine does not cause cancer, but it helps building new blood vessels to where the demand is. The implication (as mentioned in said article) is that nicotine could accelerate tumor growth by accelerating blood vessel growth to the tumor. If the diagnosis is done in time, there is no real reason nicotine would be a cause of death. I am not a doctor, but I have been listening and I am sure the general conclusions still lack in actual scientific method.

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Many people would be shocked to learn that 65% of new lung cancer cases are among former and never-smokers. Quitting smoking reduces the individual's risk, but some cancers take a long time to grow and by the time a smoker quits, lung cancer could already have gotten started. WebMD observes

Within 20 years of quitting, the risk of dying among former smokers was similar to that of lifetime nonsmokers for most causes of death, with the exception of lung cancer.

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Quit Smoking: Death Risk Drops Fast

The American Cancer Society states,

Overall,the chance that a man will develop lung cancer in his lifetime is about 1 in 13; for a woman, the risk is about 1 in 16. These numbers include both smokersand non-smokers. For smokers the risk is much higher, while for non-smokers the risk is lower.

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What are the key statistics about lung cancer?

I once read an article that calculated a smoker's lifetime odds of developing lung cancer was 14%. That would make the odds around 1 in 7, which is about double the overall odds cited by the ACS. This is an interesting article about lung cancer among never-smokers: http://cancergrace.org/lung/2010/10/19/wakelee-intro-to-lcins/

As far as nicotine goes, these two articles discuss the fact that nicotine does NOT appear to enhance tumor growth in lab mice.
Low-dose nicotine does not promote lung tumors in mouse models - National Cancer Institute
Nicotine Does Not Enhance Tumorigenesis in Mutant K-Ras

This article states, "To date, no sound scientific research has been able to find that nicotine causes lung cancer or any other cancer."
Does Nicotine Cause Lung Cancer?

Despite the fact that lung cancer is the second most common type of cancer among both men and women (prostate cancer is #1 for men, and breast cancer is #1 for women), lung cancer research is very poorly funded. Furthermore, each year, more people die of lung cancer than of colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined. (American Cancer Society.)

Lung cancer seems to suffer from a stigma. People believe that they are safe from getting lung cancer if they don't smoke, and those who never smoked feel smug about it. But the fact is that if you have lungs, you could get lung cancer.

UPDATE: Just stumbled across this statistic-laden fact sheet from the ALA. http://www.lung.org/lung-disease/lung-cancer/resources/facts-figures/lung-cancer-fact-sheet.html

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