The medical professionals have been worried by the sudden surge in lung cancer diagnoses of young and middle-aged women, most of whom do not smoke.
Lung cancer is said to occur more in women than in men, and so it emphasizes the need for greater awareness and more focused research into the causes and treatments of the disease.
A growing proportion of young and middle-aged women, many of whom have never smoked, are now suffering from lung cancer, which was formerly mostly linked to smokers.
The origins of the disease and the paucity of study on lung cancer in non-smokers are being called into question by this concerning trend.
Late in August 2024, YouTube’s former CEO, Susan Wojcicki, passed away of lung cancer. She said of her shock at receiving the lung cancer diagnosis in 2022 in a blog post written before her death.
In the blog post, several specialists in the area of her call for further research into lung cancer in women and non-smokers concurred with her.
Last year, Jhalene Mundin, a 36-year-old New Jersey nurse, was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. Mundin, like Wojcicki, had been living a healthy lifestyle and had no known risk factors. She had just had a chronic cough, which she believed was connected to a previous sickness, thus her diagnosis was unexpected.
From research, it is indicated that the number of non-users of tobacco products who suffer from lung cancer has increased and women are more affected by this fatal disease rather than men.
Experts attribute this surge to genetic defects, such as the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation, which is more prevalent among women, and environmental factors.
Physicians are hopeful that further research will bring better treatments and outcomes because targeted therapeutics are promising.
Experts feel that research is desperately needed to understand why these cancers are killing women and non-smokers.
