If you are looking for some lung cancer statistics, you are reading the right article. Most people are aware that the majority of cancer deaths are due to lung cancer. Actually, lung cancer accounts for 30% of all cancer related deaths. These lung cancer statistics show that lung cancer is the second most common cause of death in humans.
Because lung cancer statistics show that 85% of cancer deaths are due to smoking, it is possible to prevent many of these deaths by quitting smoking. Smokers affect not only their own health negativelly, but also that of passive smokers in their vicinity.Hypothetically, should everyone across the world suddenly stop smoking, the number of deaths from lung cancer would become insignificantly small compared to other causes of death.
Lung cancer statistics show that of all the ethnic groups in the world, the incidence of lung cancer in African Americans is the highest. The reason behind this is that African Americans have also been shown to smoke more than other ethnic groups.
The fact that lung cancer is concidered to be one of the most life-threatening types of cancer is not known by too many. According to some lung cancer statistics, the survival rate (five-year survival rate) of those who suffer from breast cancer is 87% and from colon cancer is 62%. Similarly, the five year survival rate of prostate cancer patients is 92%. The five year survival rate of lung cancer patients is as low as 15%.
One of the reasons for the low survival rate of lung cancer patients can be ascribed to the fact that the disease is often only identified during the final or advanced stages. During these last stages, the cancer has usually already spread to different parts of the body and it usually has an adverse effect on the functioning of many important organs. As a result, many people die from this condition sooner, rather than later.
A common misconception, is that if a smoker stops smoking for about 15 years they will have a reduced chance of developing lung cancer and that the lungs of the smoker will become normal like a non-smoker’s lungs. Lung cancer statistics show that this is not possible, whatever the perception. The lungs of smokers will never be restored to the same condition as the lungs of non-smokers. Their probability of getting lung cancer would not increase but would not decrease to the levels applicable to non-smokers.
There is a nine times higher probability for someone who smoked previously to die from lung cancer, than there is for someone who has never smoked, according to lung cancer statistics. Further, lung cancer patiens who continue to smoke are twenty-three times more likely to die than smokers that have quit.
There is an alarming link between lung cancer deaths and smoking, as often shown up in lung cancer statistics. There is a clear and simple message if you do not want to die from lung cancer – STOP SMOKING! After all, prevention is better than cure!