Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer, with an estimated 154,050 deaths projected for 2018, according to the National Cancer Institute. Unfortunately, some groups are more likely to be diagnosed than others.
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Researchers from the NCH and American Cancer Society recently conducted a study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, to find out.
For the assessment, they examined lung cancer data of adults aged 30 to 54 from 1995 to 2014. They gathered information on sex, race or ethnic group, age, year of diagnosis and year of birth.
While previous research revealed men were more likely to be diagnosed, the new data suggests otherwise.
Overall, men were still more likely than women to have lung cancer when all races and ages were combined, but researchers noticed new patterns after closely assessing the different age and race groups.
Younger white and Hispanic women born since 1965 are now more likely to have lung cancer than white and Hispanic men, the researchers found.
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For example, incidence rates for white women surpassed white men in nearly every age group examined. Rates of lung cancer among white women aged 40 to 44 went from 12 percent lower than men during the 1995-1999 period to 17 percent higher during the 2010-2014 period.
For black and Asian groups, the women rates inched closer to those of the men but did not exceed them.
In a statement, researchers said they were surprised by the results. While they are still exploring why the switch has occurred, they noted smoking patterns did not explain the change.
“While prevalence of smoking among men and women has converged over the past several decades, smoking prevalence among women has still generally not exceeded that of men,” lead author Ahmedin Jemal said. “We do not believe sex differences in smoking behavior explain our finding of a gender crossover.”
On the other hand, they do believe women more than men may be more susceptible to the health hazards of cigarette smoking. They explained that women may also be more likely to get lung cancer even after they quit smoking, but more research needs to be done.
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