Lung cancers on the rise in non-smokers

Lung cancer is on the rise among French people who do not smoke, reveals study conducted in 2010 in the pulmonology departments of 104 general hospitals in France (excluding CHU). Presented in June in Chicago at the last congress of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, this research took into account all patients suffering from bronchopulmonary cancer admitted to the wards during the year 2010, ie 7,051 cases. As a result, out of 762 patients, or nearly 11%, declared never to have smoked, and among these, 158 (20%), claimed to have been subjected to passive smoking.

An increase of 4% in ten years
First conclusion of Dr Daniel Coëtmeur, pulmonologist and thoracic oncologist at Yves-Le Foll hospital in Saint-Brieuc, who summarized this work, the proportion of non-smokers with bronchial cancer is on the rise. This is increased from 7 to 11% in ten years. Contacted by why actor, Professor Etienne Lemarié, pulmonologist in Tours (37), confides: “This is an epidemiological study carried out in French general hospitals which is quite serious and which undoubtedly reflects the general trend in France. “
Small precision, shave listed here as “non-smokers” people who have smoked less than 100 g of tobacco in their lifetime, or the equivalent of five packs of 20 cigarettes.
Long-repentant smokers, even those who have only smoked for two or three years, benefit from stopping smoking. “We never go back to the minimum level of risk. But by stopping smoking, we spare ourselves other pathologies, such as cardiovascular diseases, for example, ”underlines Dr Daniel Coëtmeur.

Multiple environmental factors
And according to this pulmonologist, the causes of this form of cancer with a very poor prognosis in non-smokers are multiple. Passive smoking comes first, and that “despite the measures in force in public places,” says Dr. Daniel Coëtmeur. Another explanation: environmental factors that seriously damage the lung health of non-smokers.
Among the most harmful substances, we find the fine particles of diesel, the presence of arsenic, chromium, silica or even asbestos in the professional environment.

9 out of 10 patients with bronchial cancer are smokers
Another conclusion of this study, people with bronchopulmonary cancer who are non-smokers are 70% women. A data which supports the thesis according to which a hormonal factor combined with passive smoking perhaps increases this risk, estimates Dr. Daniel Coëtmeur.

“These non-smoking patients are older than the average patient suffering from the same pathology. Their case is often severe (bone metastases) because the first symptoms, in people who did not seem to present any risk factors, were underestimated. A cough that persists beyond three weeks, the first coughing up blood should alert ”, warns Dr. Coëtmeur. But the latter indicates, however, that there is nothing to be overly worried about on the side of non-smokers, “because nine out of ten patients with bronchial cancer are smokers,” he concludes.