Women started smoking in the 1930s and 1940s, about 20 to 30 years later than men. Thus, the sharp rise in lung cancer mortality that was so apparent among men before 1964 did not occur until the 1970s in women. Since this time lung cancer deaths have grown to epidemic proportions.
In 2000, lung cancer accounted for an estimated one of every four cancer deaths and one of every eight newly diagnosed cancers among women.
Estimates for 2000 indicated that about 74,600 new cases of lung cancer and about 67,600 deaths from the disease occurred in women.
Source: Women and Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General—2001 |
