Quitting Smoking Reduces Lung Cancer Risk

Quitting smoking can decrease the risk of developing all different types of lung cancer, including those most and least closely associated with tobacco use.

Lung cancer is typically divided into two major types: small cell carcinoma and non small cell carcinoma. Small cell carcinoma is the most aggressive form of the disease and is almost entirely caused by cigarette smoking. It accounts for about 20 percent of all lung cancer cases. Non small cell lung cancer accounts for the remaining 80 percent of cases and is divided into three types: squamous cell carcinoma, the most common type seen in men; adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer in women and nonsmokers; and large cell carcinoma, which originates in the peripheral parts of the lungs. It is a well-established fact that quitting smoking reduces your risk of getting lung cancer, but doctors have not known how it decreases the risk between the various types of the disease.

Researchers from the Medical College of Ohio reviewed 27 studies published between 1970 and 1999 to identify the impact quitting has on the various forms. Their results indicate smoking cessation reduces the risk of getting all types of lung cancer. The effect is most prominent for small cell lung cancer and squamous cell lung cancer. Heavy smokers, particularly women, benefit the most from quitting. That finding is especially important, they say, because while lung cancer rates are leveling off for men, they are increasing among women.

Source: Ivanhoe Newswire