The importance of World Lung Cancer Awareness Day - Huron Daily Tribune

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States.

District Health Department #10, along with local public health departments, healthcare organizations and health advocates around the country, are promoting World Lung Cancer Awareness Day, which is Aug. 1 every year.

The mission for this day is to educate people about lung cancer while encouraging people to screen themselves for the disease.

According to the World Health Organization, lung cancer is so prevalent in the world that, on an annual basis, more people die from lung cancer than from colon, breast and liver cancers combined.

According to the American Lung Association:

• Lung cancer-related deaths started to decline in 2016. However, lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S. In 1987, it surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths in women.

• In 2018, lung cancer accounted for almost a quarter of all cancer-related deaths.

• When accounting for age, lung cancer-related deaths are higher in men (46.7 per 100,000 persons) than women (31.9 per 100,000 persons). While race does not generally increase risk, Black men have a much higher risk of lung cancer-related death than white men.

• Lung cancer has one of the lowest five-year survival rates because cases are often diagnosed at later stages, when the disease is less likely to be curable. The average survival rate five years after a lung cancer diagnosis is 23.7%, which is a 14% improvement over the last five years. 

Screening for individuals at high risk of lung cancer has the potential to dramatically improve lung cancer survival rates by finding the disease at an earlier stage when it is more likely to be curable. A person is considered high risk if they are between 50–85 years old, have a 20 pack-year history of smoking (this means one pack a day for 20 years, two packs a day for 10 years, etc.), and are a current smoker or have quit within the last 15 years.

Early detection can decrease the risk of lung cancer-related death by 14-20% among high-risk populations. In the U.S., only 24% of cases are diagnosed early, when the five-year survival rate is higher at 60%. However, 46% of cases are not caught until a late stage when the risk of lung cancer-related death is 96%.

About 8 million Americans are at a high risk for lung cancer and are recommended to receive yearly screenings. If half of these individuals were screened, over 12,000 lung cancer-related deaths could be prevented.

Tobacco use is the leading risk factor for lung cancer, accounting for 80-90% of cases. To find a tobacco treatment specialist in your area and start your journey to quitting tobacco for good, visit livewell4health.org/tobacco-cessation.

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