NEW DELHI: A study by a leading hospital showed a drastic rise in the incidence of lung cancers among non-smokers. According to the study done by Medanta Hospital, as high as 50 per cent of Lung Cancer cases are being diagnosed among patients who have never smoked. Worryingly, the incidents of such cases have risen among people under 30 years of age.
The study was done over 304 patients at the hospital between march 2012 and November 2022, a total of 304 patients were analyzed retrospectively. The age at presentation, gender, smoking status, stage of disease at the time of diagnosis and type of lung cancer were recorded and analysed, besides other parameters, doctors said.
Dr Arvind Kumar, Chairman, Institute of Chest Onco-surgery and Lung Transplantation, Medanta, said, the prevalence of Lung cancer is rising in both men and women, however, women are affected more now.
“We observed an overall increase in the incidence of lung cancer both in men and women. In men, it is already at number 1 in terms of prevalence and mortality, while in women it has jumped to No.3 (as per Globocan 2020) from No.7 (as per Globocan 2012) over a period of 8 years. About 30% of the overall patient load were women and all were non-smokers,” he added.
A more worrying scenario the study presents is the growing prevalence of lung cancer among young non-smoker patients. Acording to the study, 70% patients were in the younger-than-50-years age group and 100% patients under 30 years of age were non-smokers. Further, nearly 20% patients were found to be less than 50 years of age.
Nearly 10% of all patients were less than 40 years of age and 2.6% were in their 20s.
“In the coming decade, we are very likely to see an increase in the number of non-smoking lung cancer patients younger age group and females. This risk group is very different from the earlier dominant-at-risk demographic of older men who smoke tobacco,” Dr Kumar stated.
“Unlike the West, where lung cancers are mostly reported among people above 60, the incidence of lung cancer in India is about two decades earlier. I have checked data from other hospitals and found that there is almost an equal distribution of lung cancers among smokers and non-smokers, with younger women getting most affected,” he said.
He also said the current trend shows that majority cases are likely to be diagnosed late when adequate treatment is not possible, resulting in high mortality due to Lung Cancer. “A Lung Cancer Epidemic is foreseeable in near future,” Kumar added.