A group of experts in respiratory medicine and public health are sounding the alarm: according to them, non-smokers are not diagnosed enough while more and more of them are affected by lung cancer.
Smoking may be one of the first risk factors in the development of lung cancer, but it is far from the only one. People who have never touched a cigarette in their life can therefore be affected by this disease.
Here is, in essence, the message of a new article published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. According to its authors, lung cancer in people who have never smoked is underestimated and “represents a diagnostic challenge, especially for general practitioners who seek to find a balance between over-investigation, early diagnosis and care. high quality”.
Late diagnosis in non-smokers
In France, it is estimated that one in four people with lung cancer has never smoked. This bronchial cancer in non-smokers is the seventh leading cause of cancer death in the world and the ninth among women in Europe.
If the causes are not completely elucidated, certain factors explain the disease. This is the case of passive smoking, occupational exposure to carcinogens or even outdoor pollution. In all cases, 40% of bronchial cancers in non-smokers remain unexplained.
In the United Kingdom, where the present study was carried out, researchers estimate that around “6,000 people who have never smoked die each year from lung cancer”, suggests Professor Paul Cosford, director of protection of Health and Medical Director, Public Health England.
However, these patients are still under-diagnosed and are therefore unaware of their risk of developing a disease which they consider to be linked to tobacco consumption. “For too long, lung cancer has been thought of only as a smoking-related disease. This is an important association, but as this work shows, the scale of the challenge means it is necessary to educate clinicians and decision-makers about other risk factors, including indoor and outdoor air pollution,” continues the researcher.
Take better account of factors other than smoking
In 2014, a study carried out in the pneumology departments of 104 general hospitals in France (CHU excluded) and relating to 7,051 files had shown that more than one in ten patients (762) treated for lung cancer did not smoke. Among them, 11% had never smoked in their life but 158 (20%) had been subjected to passive smoking.
For Professor Mick Peake, co-author of this new study and clinical director of the Center for Cancer Outcomes at the University College London Hospitals Cancer Collaborative, these people who have never smoked are particularly vulnerable to lung cancer because, “despite advances in our understanding, they do not believe they are at risk and often face long delays in diagnosis, reducing their chances of receiving curative treatment.”
Hence the need for further research on bronchial cancer in non-smokers, but also to draw attention to the underlying risk factors such as passive smoking and air pollution. .
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