A new study has found that cases of lung cancer are on the rise, but not just in those who smoke, as cases are also rising in those who never smoke.
Why is that? Blame air pollution.
The study was published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal, highlighting its findings that were compiled thanks to data from the Global Cancer Observatory and other health organizations.
Researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and World Health Organization worked together to complete the report, which estimated the cases of four different types of lung cancer: adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, small-and large-cell carcinoma.
The study found that the most common type of lung cancer for men and women is adenocarcinoma, which is a cancer that starts in the glands that produce mucus and digestive fluids.
The subtype of lung cancer was also found to be growing increasingly more common among those who never smoked. Data used in the study from 2022 found that it accounted for 53-70% of lung cancer cases in those who don’t smoke.
“As smoking prevalence continues to decline in many countries worldwide, the proportion of lung cancer in people who have never smoked has increased,” the study said.
The authors explained the new questions these findings bring, as compared to other types of lung cancer, adenocarcinoma is strongly considered to be related to cigarette smoking. Now, researchers are searching for other factors that could be playing a role in the trend.
“Changes in smoking patterns and exposure to air pollution are among the main determinants of the changing risk profile of lung cancer incidence by subtype that we see today,” the study’s lead author, Freddie Bray, head of the cancer surveillance branch at IARC, said.
The authors wrote in their study that lung cancer has become a leading cause in cancer-related deaths, and again, among those who don’t smoke, lung cancer-related deaths are still prevalent.
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“Lung cancer in people who have never smoked is estimated to be the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, occurring almost exclusively as adenocarcinoma and most commonly in women and Asian populations,” the authors wrote.
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