Lung cancer accounts for 1.8 million deaths annually: Doc
The primary risk factor for lung cancer is smoking, which contributes to about 85% of all cases. Other risk factors include exposure to secondhand smoke, radon gas, asbestos, and other environmental toxins
Lung cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide, while in India it is the 4th most common cancer after breast, oral and cervical cancer, said Dr Ved Prakash, HoD Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the King George’s Medical University while addressing a press conference organised on Wednesday on the eve of World Lung Cancer Day.
“If we talk of mortality rate, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally, accounting for nearly 1.8 million deaths annually,” said Dr Prakash.
“The primary risk factor for lung cancer is smoking, which contributes to about 85% of all cases. Other risk factors include exposure to secondhand smoke, radon gas, asbestos, and other environmental toxins. The survival rate of five-year for lung cancer varies by stage at diagnosis. For localized lung cancer, the five-year survival rate is about 59%, but it drops to around 6% for distant (metastatic) lung cancer,” said Dr Shailendra Kumar of the Department of Thoracic Surgery, KGMU while addressing the press conference.
Sharing statistics on lung cancer in India, Prof Rajendra Prasad, former director of VPCI, Prof RAS Kushwaha, respiratory medicine, said lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in India, with an estimated 67,000 new cases diagnosed annually. It is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Indian men, accounting for approximately 9.3% of all cancer deaths. The age-standardized incidence rate of lung cancer in India is about 7.6 per 100,000 men and 2.1 per 100,000 women.