WORLD LUNG CANCER DAY 2022:Â Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among men and women. Therefore, with an aim to create awareness about this evil disease, August 1 is celebrated as World Lung Cancer Day, which is a beat-back move for the occurrences of this cancer. Apart from raising awareness, the special day also encourages many to screen themselves for this disease.
While this type of cancer mainly occurs in people who are 65 years and above, a very small number of cases have been diagnosed where patients are younger than 45 years, reported the American Cancer Society.
Needless to say, people who smoke are at higher risk of contracting the disease, but smoking cigarettes is not the only reason behind lung cancer. Surprisingly, some of the other risk factors of lung cancer include exposure to secondhand smoking, which means that even if you haven’t held a cigarette in your hand, but are present in a room where others are smoking, you have a scope of contracting the lung cancer.
Apart from this, some other causes of lung cancer among non-smokers are exposed to certain toxins, inherited genes, and gene mutation. Moreover, air pollution and several other chemicals present in the air are also relevant contributors to the lung cancer burden and are known to be carcinogenic to humans.
As per a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 10 to 20 per cent of lung cancer cases or 20,000 to 40,000 patients of lung cancers in the United States are the ones who never smoked or smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime.
In addition, it is estimated by the researchers that secondhand smoke contributes to around 7,300 and radonexternal icon to around 2,900 of these lung cancers. Whether or not you have smoked cigarettes, the symptoms of lung cancer are common in both scenarios. However, some people might suffer from general symptoms of not feeling well or feeling tired all the time.
Many people will face frequent coughing, coughing up blood, chest pain, wheezing, or shortness of breath. It is advisable that if you go through any of these symptoms, you must immediately seek medical help.
