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With Halloween just behind us and Thanksgiving coming up in just a couple of weeks, it might be easy to forget that November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month.
We hope you will not.
Lung cancer, according to the American Cancer Society, is the second most common form of cancer in men and women, with only prostate cancer being more common in men and breast cancer more common in women. Estimates are that 238,340 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed this year (120,790 of which will be in women and 117,550 in men) and, sadly, that there will be 127,070 deaths due to lung cancer this year (67,160 of which will be men and 59,910 will be in women.)
In our Tri-State Area, it is estimated there will be 11,320 new cases diagnosed in Pennsylvania this year and 5,720 deaths.
In Ohio, estimates are there will be 10,680 new cases diagnosed and 5,730 deaths. And in West Virginia, it is estimated there will be 2,170 new cases diagnosed and 1,290 deaths.
Do the math: It adds up to 653 people in the United States being diagnosed each day. That's about 27 people each hour, or one every two and a half minutes.
There are numerous risk factors for the disease, the cancer society reports, including smoking, exposure to second-hand smoke, exposure to radon, exposure to asbestos, exposure to other cancer-causing agents in the workplace, air pollution, certain dietary supplements and arsenic in the drinking water.
Awareness is especially critical to residents of the Tri-State Area.
According to the American Lung Association, while the national rate of new cases per 100,000 residents is 57, West Virginia ranks 50th among all states with a rate of 78 new cases per 100,000 residents. Ohio is 42nd with a rate of 67 new cases and Pennsylvania is 33rd with a rate of 62.
The five-year survival rate for lung cancer in the United States is 25 percent. In Ohio it is 23 percent --31st among the 46 states that report that data. Pennsylvania is 12th with a survival rate of 27 percent and West Virginia is 42nd with a survival rate of 20 percent.
Numbers also show that while the national rate for lung cancers caught at an early stage is 25.8 percent, the rate in West Virginia is 26 percent, the rate in Pennsylvania is 26.4 percent and the rate in Ohio is 25 percent.
Tobacco use has been identified as the leading risk factor for lung cancer, with cigarette smoking linked to 80 percent to 90 percent of lung cancer deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC adds that an estimated 11.5 percent of U.S. adults currently smokes cigarettes.West Virginia's rate is 23.8 percent, Ohio's rate is 20.8 percent and Pennsylvania's rate is 17.3 percent.
Those are sobering numbers, and they offer reasons for area residents to be aware of the dangers and take steps which can help stop the deadly disease.