Just as the Florida Lung, Asthma and Sleep Specialists noted in last year’s blog, November has come with cooler temperatures and golden fall colors.
Hope Lives In Orlando
November is a special month for many reasons. We all look forward to Thanksgiving, family time and Christmas shopping. However, we hope you will pause and acknowledge that this is also the month dedicated to lung cancer awareness.
November is always a time when FLASS reviews lung cancer statistics in our effort to educate the public about the facts, risks, and treatments behind this darkly disabling and deadly disease.
Lung Cancer: Powerful Factoids!
To our way of thinking a Factoid is an important fact boiled down to only the most essential words. We send you these factoids in the hope their brevity will impact you with its power, emotion and memorability:
1. Lung Cancer Has No Respect for Gender!
If you are a man, you now have a one in fourteen chance of contracting lung cancer. A woman has a one in seventeen chance of getting the disease. To put it simply, this means lung cancer has harvested about 224,390 new cases this year. That means 117,920 men and 106,470 women have been or will be diagnosed in 2016. 158,080 of these human beings will die in spite of the efforts of research science and patient care. According to the American Cancer Society, by the end of the year, lung cancer will have claimed 85,920 in men and 72,160 in women.
2. Lung Cancer Has No Respect for Age!
We want you to know that one out of four deaths from cancer are caused by lung cancer. Perhaps you are already aware that “about 1 out of 4 cancer
Lung Cancer has no respect for age, gender or social station.
deaths are from lung cancer. Each year, more people die of lung cancer than of colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined.”
In the 21st century, we have heard that physical lifestyle and good eating habits have made 40 the new 60!
With retirement, travel and grand-children and lifetime goals within reach, it seems a shame that a lung cancer diagnosis can destroy a patient’s quality of life. Although many people in their 60’s have learned to be physically fit, the sad fact is that two of every three people who are diagnosed with lung cancer are 65 years old or older.
Only 2 percent are younger than 45. What’s the average age at diagnosis? It’s actually seventy.
3. No Respect: No One Is Immune, Not Even Non-smokers!
You also probably know that both smokers and non-smokers are in the groups mention above. The difference is that smokers run a much higher risk of lung cancer. However, any one can get this disease, not just smokers. We will be talking more about this all through November.
Lung Cancer Awareness: The Silver Lining
Medical research is continuing to make new strides in the treatment of lung cancer every day. They have prolonged many lives with treatments and medicines. Through awareness, research and advocacy, we see patients surviving and even thriving far beyond the expectations of yester-year.
Here at FLASS, we have actually seen that the rate of lung cancer occurrence has declined in the last three decades for men. Women’s records reflect a
New Research Brings Back a Higher Quality of Life for Lung Cancer Patients.
similar decline, but only in the last ten years, that’s one decade.
Let’s take a look at the data behind this hopeful news: According to the IASLC, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, “Over the last 39 years, the rate of new lung cancer cases has fallen 32% among men while increasing 94% among women.
Since the peak rate for men in 1984, the rate of new cases for men has dropped 41%. Since the peak rate of new cases for women in 1998, the rate of new cases for women has fallen 10%.”
Likewise, let us look deeper into this factoid: According to the IASLC, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer,“Over the last 39 years, the rate of new lung cancer cases has fallen 32% among men while increasing 94% among women. Since the peak rate for men in 1984, the rate of new cases for men has dropped 41%. Since the peak rate of new cases for women in 1998, the rate of new cases for women has fallen 10%.”
We are fighting lung cancer every day here in Orlando at the Florida Lung, Asthma and Sleep Specialists. We salute the many organizations who endorse the goals of this Lung Cancer Awareness wareness month. –And we dream of a time in the not-too-distant future when we won’t need more research, more funding, or more advocacy–because there will be a cure.
Like the IASLC says: “More Research. More Survivors.”
…And we add, “It all begins with awareness.” That’s why we shared the above factoids.
Thank you for reading this week’s FLASS blog. We hope you return to our blog next week to discover the exact strategies you can use in daily life to minimize your risk of lung cancer, and avoid becoming a statistic like those in this week’s article.
