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We provide a comprehensive information, support and advocacy service for people affected by lung cancer throughout the UK.

Understanding lung cancer

Facts and Figures

There are many facts and figures relating to lung cancer. Some people who are affected by lung cancer want to know as many statistics as possible about the disease - others don’t. Below is a variety of accurate and up-to-date lung cancer information. It is important to remember that the figures quoted are dependant on a large variety of factors. Some may find this section upsetting.

Please only refer to the facts and figures below if you really want to know this information.

Incidence

  • Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the UK after breast cancer.
  • There are over 38,000 new cases of lung cancer each year in the UK .
  • Lung cancer is the most common cancer in men, responsible for 19% of all new cases; it is the third most common cancer in women accounting for 11% of all new cases.
  • The incidence of lung cancer in men continues to fall as as result of the decrease in smoking among men, but is still rising in women.
  • Lung cancer is uncommon in people under the age of 40, with the risk increasing with age.

Risk Factors

  • Smoking and passive smoking cause 9 out of 10 lung cancers.
  • A third of all cancer deaths in the western world are linked to tobacco use.
  • Smoking remains by far the single biggest preventable cause of cancer and premature death.
  • Prevention of lung cancer, and other smoking-related cancers, remains a priority.
  • Other cancers linked to smoking include cancer of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, bladder, cervix, pancreas and kidney.
  • Although smoking is by far the major cause of lung cancer, exposure to certain carcinogens in the workplace, such as asbestos, also increase the risk of lung cancer.

Treatments

  • Treatment depends on the type of lung cancer.
  • If the tumour is located on the outside of the lung away from the centre, and if it has not already spread, then it may be removed by surgery.  Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are the other main methods of treatment.
  • If the cancer is the small cell cancer type, with a tendency to spread to other parts of the body, then chemotherapy is the main type of treatment with radiotherapy sometimes being used as well.

Survival

  • Lung cancer has five year survival rates of less than 10% for both men and women.
  • Survival from lung cancer has shown no discernible improvement for more than 20 years.  This is because the majority of patients have advanced disease when they are diagnosed and curative treatment is not possible.

Mortality

  • In 2000 there were 151,200 deaths from cancer in the UK – over one fifth of these were from lung cancer.
  • Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in men and women in the UK .
  • Lung cancer is the second biggest killer of men, after coronary heart disease.
  • In 1999 lung cancer overtook breast cancer as the leading cause of female cancer death in the UK .
  • In the UK a rapid decline in smoking among male adults has resulted in a decrease in lung cancer
  • However, it is still the most common cause of male deaths from cancer.
  • 80 per cent of people with lung cancer die within a year of being diagnosed.
  • The life expectancy of a man who smokes at 35 is reduced by approximately seven years, a woman’s by five years.
  • Several hundred people, in the UK, die every year from lung cancer caused by passive smoking (breathing other people’s tobacco smoke).

Research

Lung cancer receives only 3.9% of cancer research funding made available by the government and cancer charities, whereas leukaemia research got 18%.