World Lung Cancer day: 10 essential facts about disease

World Lung Cancer Day is commemorated August 1 every year to raise awareness among people and support those impacted by the disease.

Lung cancer has been noted to have claimed 7.6 million lives around the world annually.

According to research published in the journal Cancer Research Wednesday, lung cancer deaths among women is predicted to rise by almost half before 2030, with mortality rate due to increase by 43 per cent between 2015 and 2030.

“This is because it was socially acceptable for women to smoke in the European and Oceanic countries included in our study many years before this habit was commonplace in America and Asia, which reflects why we are seeing higher lung cancer mortality rates in these countries,” Dr. Jose Martinez-Sanchez, the study’s lead author said.

“If we do not implement measures to reduce smoking behaviours in this population, lung cancer mortality will continue to increase throughout the world,” the author warned, Independent reported.

Here are a few facts about the deadly disease:

1. According to The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, lung cancer kills people more than breast, colon and prostate cancers combined every year.
2. Though the symptoms may vary, some of the common signs include coughing up blood, constant chest pain, wheezing, headache, neck and face swelling and unexplained weight loss.
3. Lung cancer is by far the second most common cancer in both men and women and about 234,030 new cases of lung cancer (121,680 in men and 112,350 in women) are estimated in United States for 2018, according to The American Cancer Society.
4. An estimated 81 per cent of those living with lung cancer are over the age of 60 and the survival rate is just 17 per cent. It accounts for 27 percent of all cancer deaths.
5. The chances of black men developing the disease is 20 per cent more than white men; however, the lung cancer rate has been dropping among men over the past two decades with one in 13 men at lifetime risk.
6. Though there are several causes for cancer, smoking remains on top of the ladder and the risk varies with the number of cigarettes smoked in a day and for how long a person engages in the habit of smoking.
7. According to an analysis by the American Cancer Society data, the disease accounts for nearly 23,000 deaths in non-smokers in the U.S. every year and about 15 per cent of the lung cancer patients have never smoked.
8. Air pollution is another major risk factor and of the 3.2 million deaths caused by this factor worldwide, 223,000 are from lung cancer.
9. Although there is no definite way to prevent the disease, avoiding smoking, exposure to asbestos, and eating healthy and staying fit can reduce the risk to some extent. Physical activity may reduce risk by 20 per cent or more.
10. Three major tests to detect the disease include imaging tests, which reveals the presence of an abnormal mass or nodule, Sputum cytology, which will check if cough is producing sputum, and tissue sample, which will remove sample of abnormal cells.