Lung Cancer

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Lung Cancer

I am doing my report on lung cancer so I can learn the effects, symptoms and

prevention’s that I can take to avoid getting this disease. Cancer is a disease in which

cells multiply without control, destroy healthy tissue, and endanger life. About 100 kinds

of cancer attack human beings. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the

United States, among both men and women. Lung cancer claims more lives then colon,

prostate and breast cancer combined. In 1999 about 91,000 men and 68,000 women died

of lung cancer. The peak age for lung cancer is 65years for men and 70 years for woman.

The disease is uncommon before the age of 40. The exact cause of lung cancer remains

unclear.
Some risk factors of this disease include tobacco smoking, exposure to

carcinogenic and industrial air pollutants and genetic predisposition. Lung cancer is also

among the most preventable of all cancers. Smoking alone accounts for about 85 percent

to 90 percent of lung cancer cases. Although the mortality rate for men has decreased the

rate for women has increased. One reason may be that although smoking rates have

decreased overall, the rate decreased more rapidly for men. However new cases of lung

cancer in women have been declining, which means that their mortality rate is likely to

decline in the future.

According to the Medical and Health Encyclopedia various theories

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have been proposed to explain the mechanism by which smoking causes cancer in human

beings; none has been proved. However it is known that the lungs of some cigarette

smokers show tissue changes before cancer appears, changes apparently caused by

irritation of the lining of the bronchi. Physicians believe these changes can be reversed
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