Lung cancer is the number one killer of women in terms of cancer, but research suggests most women are not concerned about it.
Fewer than half of women survive one year after a lung cancer diagnosis, an American Lung Association (ALA) news release reported. It can occur in anyone, even women who do not smoke.
The ALA surveyed 1,000 U.S. women to find out what women thought about lung cancer. The team found breast cancer was of a much larger concern to most of the participants. The researchers believe that could be because of the low survival rate associated with lung cancer, HealthDay reported.
When the participants were asked what the thought the leading cause of cancer death was in women 51 percent selected breast cancer; 22 percent of the participants chose lung cancer.
"With breast cancer, there are so many survivors out there telling their stories and advocating," Alana Burns, vice president of the ALA's Signature Cause Campaign, said, HealthDay reported. "But more than half of women diagnosed with lung cancer are gone within a year. There is no legion of survivors talking about their experiences."
Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in U.S. women, but lung cancer is the top killer. Lung cancer kills about 38 of every 100,000 women every year.
"It's pretty clear that breast cancer gets more press," Doctor Subhakar Mutyala, associate director of the Scott & White Cancer Institute in Temple, Texas, said, WebMD reported.
Lung cancer screenings are usually limited to high-risk groups, such as smokers and those who have quit within the past 15 years and are between the ages of 55 and 80. About 10 percent of people who get lung cancer never smoked.
Half of the women who participated in the survey said they were not concerned about lung cancer because they had never been smokers.
"Many people think of lung cancer as solely a smoker's disease," Burns said.
