Women smokers get lung cancer earlier than men

[Naveed Yaseen]

Women are more vulnerable to the deadly side effects of smoking than men, a lung cancer study found.

Research into patients with the disease found women tended to be diagnosed at a younger age than men — even though they had smoked fewer cigarettes. They were also more likely to develop one of the most common forms of the cancer, researchers said.

It adds to the growing pile of evidence suggesting that women are more vulnerable to the cancer-causing chemicals, or carcinogens, in tobacco than men. The study looked at 683 lung cancer patients treated at a Swiss clinic between 2000 and 2005. It found that female smokers were statistically most likely to develop adenocarcinoma — a common form of lung cancer — and were more likely to be diagnosed with the disease at an earlier age.

Study leader Dr. Martin Frueh, from St Gallen Canton Hospital in Switzerland, said: “Our findings suggest that women may have an increased susceptibility to tobacco carcinogens.” The research was presented at the European Multidisciplinary Conference in Thoracic Oncology in Lugano, Switzerland. Dr Enriqueta Felip, who co-chaired the meeting, said there was a growing awareness that smoking was riskier for women.

“In the early 1900s lung cancer was reported to be rare in women,” she said. “But since the 1960s it has progressively reached epidemic proportions, becoming the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the United States. Lung cancer is not only a man’s disease, but women tend to be much more aware of other cancers, such as breast cancer.”

Past studies have indicated that women run a far higher risk of developing lung cancer than men. American scientists found that women are more likely to carry a gene that drives lung cancer growth.

Nicotine appears to trigger the gastrinreleasing peptide receptor gene, which is also more active in women than men. However, Henry Scowcroft of Cancer Research UK urged caution. He said: “People should be wary of jumping to conclusions about differences between men’s and women’s susceptibility to cancer. These scientists only studied patients referred to a single cancer centre, and did not look at biological differences between men’s and women’s lung cancers.”

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