Lung cancer rates in women have risen 73% over the last forty years according to new Cancer Research UK .
Lung cancer rates in women have risen 73% over the last forty years according to new Cancer Research UK .
However, while the rate for women has climbed, the figures show lung cancer rates have fallen by 47% in men over the same period and by a fifth (20%) for people overall.
Dr Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK's chief executive, commented: "These figures provide a stark reminder that lung cancer remains one of the biggest challenges in cancer research. The disease kills more than twice as many people as the second most common cancer killer - bowel cancer - and this looks set to continue unless we all do more." -
Around 87% of lung cancers are caused by tobacco, with the remaining 13% of cases not related to tobacco.
Lung cancer can take many years to develop, so these figures largely mirror changes in previous smoking rates, which have been falling since the 1950s - while for women this didn't happen until the 1970s.
The lung cancer rate in women is now 41 per 100,000, up from 23 in 1975. For men, it is now 59 per 100,000, down from 112 in 1975.
