Ask the Expert: Lung Cancer in Women [Video]

What are the risk factors for Lung Cancer?

So, a majority of lung cancer occurs in smokers, of course. But, in fact, lung cancer does occur in never smokers. In fact, up to 20% of lung cancer in women is in women who have never smoked, versus 10% of men with lung cancer who’ve never smoked. Some of the other risk factors are exposure to second-hand smoke, exposure to radon, um, which can be measured, um, in the home, exposure to asbestos, and then also having an underlying lung disease is an additional risk factor. So having emphysema or lung fibrosis can put you at a higher risk of lung cancer, and having a family history of lung cancer as well is an important risk factor.

And what symptoms should women look for?

The unfortunate thing with lung cancer is that by the time, um, you develop symptoms of lung cancer, often the disease is already at least locally advanced, if not metastatic. And so, …