Lung cancer is the leading cause of death in the cancer group, both in women and men. Although 80 percent of patients with lung cancer are smokers, but 1 in 5 patients with this cancer are not smokers.
Quoting data in the United States, deaths from lung cancer each year reaching 40,000 per year. The female non-smokers are also two times greater risk of dying from lung cancer as well as ovarian cancer.
Because it's true experts claim is no longer appropriate if lung cancer is referred to as the disease of smokers.
"If we have a lung then we can get lung cancer. Cancer is now the same as cancer that attacks other organs," said Linda Wenger, executive director of Uniting Against Lung Cancer.
The experts said the stigma surrounding smoking habits attached to lung cancer, which is called as a disease that sought his own, has reduced public sympathy for patients and lead to lack of funding to research this disease.
"Research in lung cancer as a stepchild in the family of cancer because of the influence of stigma," said Holli Kawadler, a cancer researcher. He pointed out, funding for breast cancer research every year to reach 27,000 U.S. dollars, while for lung cancer only 1400 U.S. dollars.
Nevertheless, scientists slowly began to understand the causes of this cancer in nonsmokers. One fact is women non-smokers have a greater risk than men, which is two to one.
Although the exact cause is unclear, but, like a tumor in the breast, lung cancer aggressiveness is influenced by estrogen.
