Contrary to common belief, women smokers are not more likely than men to get lung cancer, U.S. researchers reported Tuesday.
They found that lung cancer is an equal opportunity killer, taking just as many male smokers as female.
“It’s unclear why some studies have pointed to an increased risk for women,” said Dr. Michael Thun, chief epidemiologist for the American Cancer Society who helped lead the study.
“But this unprecedented review should help us focus on broad strategies that will be relevant to preventing tobacco use for everyone.”
Lung cancer rates rise in women
The American Cancer Society estimates tobacco will cause 87 percent of the expected 160,440 U.S. lung cancer deaths in 2004.
Despite this figure and even though smoking is also the biggest cause of heart disease, about 23 percent of Americans smoke.
More men smoke than women and are therefore more likely to die of lung cancer. But as more women began to smoke, lung cancer rates began to rise sharply for females starting in the mid-1960s.
The Cancer Society team and researchers at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital studied statistics covering 85,000 men and women for their report, published in Wednesday’s issue of The Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
“Our data indicate that women are not at an excess risk of lung cancer compared to men, given similar smoking levels and smoking histories,” said Brigham and Women’s researcher Diane Feskanich.