Are women more susceptible to lung cancer?

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
For most of the past 100 years, lung cancer has generally been thought of as a disease primarily affecting men. In the past several decades, however, the incidence of lung cancer has risen among women in the United States and most other parts of the world. While incidence is still higher among men than among women, the gap has narrowed and lung cancer has become the leading cause of cancer death among American women (1). The rise in rates of lung cancer among females has paralleled the increase in the prevalence of cigarette smoking. Just as in men, the majority (85%–90%) of lung cancers among women are considered to be caused by smoking (2).

This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit: