The first person in charge of lung cancer is, unsurprisingly, the tobacco. However, non-smokers can also develop this type of cancer. The team of Dr Saraiva, from the Department of Pulmonology of the Portuguese Institute of Oncology in Lisbon (Portugal) studied the survival of smoker and non-smoker patients with lung cancer. Result: the average survival after diagnosis is up to twice as high for non-smokers (51 months) than for smokers (25 months).
More women among non-smokers
To carry out this research, the scientists followed 504 non-smoking patients and 904 smokers, all with “non-small cell lung” cancer (NSCLC), the most common form of lung cancer. Not only was the survival of non-smokers superior to that of smokers, but the symptoms observed were different. First, non-smoking patients understood a majority of women. In addition, non-smokers suffered less from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart disease. Another observation of this team of researchers: for smoking patients, it was more often a second cancer, which followed that of the larynx.
Later diagnoses in non-smokers
Although smokers have a shorter average survival, they seem to be diagnosed earlier. Indeed, non-smokers are generally less well informed about the risks of lung cancer, which means that they are diagnosed. at a more advanced stage. In this study, 59% of non-smokers had reached stage IV at the time of diagnosis, a phase where the cancer has already spread to other parts of the body such as the second lung, bones or even the brain.
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