A new analysis confirms that US lung cancer rates are declining overall, but it also indicates that lung cancer rates vary by subtype, sex, race/ethnicity, and age.
Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings provide a more accurate picture of the state of lung cancer in the country and will help researchers in their ongoing efforts to monitor the population’s lung health.
The researchers found that squamous and small cell carcinoma rates declined since the 1990s, although less rapidly among females than males. Rates for unspecified lung cancer also declined. Adenocarcinoma rates decreased among males through 2005, after which they rose rapidly from 2006 to 2010 among every racial/ethnic/gender group. Recent adenocarcinoma rates were higher among young females than among males for all racial/ethnic groups.
