Lung cancer rates set for decline

Lung cancer rates, which have fallen by a fifth over the last 20 years, are set to continue heading downwards, a study has shown.

Cancer Research UK cites a fall in smokers due to recent bans on tobacco advertising and smoking in public places as driving down the overall rate of lung cancer from 50 to 40 cases per 100,000 in the UK by 2024.

However, longer life expectancy and the delay between smoking and the onset of lung cancer mean cases in Britain will rise from 38,500 to 41,600 during the same period.

Professor Max Parkin, the report’s co-author, explained these predictions are based on current figures and trends, adding that a peak in the number of female smokers in the late 1970s will see the anticipated rise in lung cancer cases be driven by women.

“Lung cancer is unique in that we can track the reduction in cases with a reduction in the number of people exposed to a specific product – cigarette smoke,” he stated.

Professor Parkin concluded as less people smoke, there should be a lower rate of the disease.