European female lung cancer deaths rising – study

LONDON (Reuters) – Female lung cancer deaths are still
rising in most European countries although there are signs the
trend is changing in young women, researchers said on
Wednesday.

Since the early 1980s the number of women dying from lung
cancer rose by 23.8 percent to 9.6 per 100,000 in the 25
European Union countries. It jumped a further 16 percent, to
11.2 per 100,000 in 2000-2001, since the beginning of the
1990s.

“Although trends in lung cancer mortality in various
European countries have been published before, this is the
first comprehensive picture of female trends and we have been
able to include the most recent available data and, in
particular, focus on patterns among young women,” said Dr
Cristina Bosetti, of the Instituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche
Mario Negri in Milan, Italy.

The scientists, who published their findings in the journal
Annals of Oncology, said six countries showed a fall in female
lung cancer deaths in the past decade. They include England,
Wales, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine.

“We saw steady long-term declines in young women in Ireland
and the UK since the late 1960s. In a number of others,
including Austria, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland,
Sweden and Switzerland, the rates among younger women have also
tended to fall in the last few years,” Bosetti said, referring
to the 20-44 year-old age group.

Lung cancer is the most common type of tumor worldwide,
according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer
(IARC) in Lyon, France.

Most cases of the illness are linked to smoking. The
five-year survival rate for lung cancer patients is less than
15 percent.

Women in Europe took up smoking later than their American
counterparts. The habit among women is less widespread so
Bosetti and her colleagues do not expect European female lung
cancer deaths to reach the level witnessed in the United
States.

In 2000 lung cancer death rates for women hit 24 per
100,000 in the United States, the researchers said.

“However, this will depend on us being able to control
smoking among European women. Unless we manage to do that with
effective interventions we could still face a major female lung
cancer epidemic in Europe in the near future,” Bosetti said.