Posts by jmcdermont:

Lung cancer

Written on August 1st, 2010 by jmcdermont
Categories: Lung Cancer
Lung cancer

Lung cancer is a swift killer. Of the 172,570 people who were diagnosed with lung cancer in the United States in 2005 only 15 percent will survive for five years.

Lung cancer is the third most common type of cancer in the United States (after prostate cancer and breast cancer). Yet due to its bleak outcome, it is the number-one killer among cancer patients. According to the American Lung Association, lung cancer caused an estimated 160,440 deaths in 2004, accounting for 28.5 percent of all cancer-related deaths. Continue Reading »

Smoking and lung cancer

Written on July 31st, 2010 by jmcdermont
Categories: Lung Cancer
Smoking and lung cancer

The classic early epidemiological study by Doll and Hill in 1950 was followed by the ‘doctors’ study in which the smoking patterns and health outcome of 20,000 British doctors were followed for 50 years – a unique achievement. This study and others have demonstrated unequivocally that: smoking causes lung cancer; the risks are proportional to the dose; quitting reduces that risk; but that even after quitting additional risks remain for more than 40 years. Continue Reading »