Women have double the risk of developing lung cancer from tobacco use than do men, according to 10 years of research using computed tomography (CT) screening. The study also found that the risk for lung cancer increases with the amount of tobacco smoked and as a smoker ages. The research was presented at the 89th Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
"We found that women had twice the risk of developing lung cancer as men, independent of how much they smoked, their age, or the size and textures of nodules found in their lungs," said Claudia I. Henschke, at New York Hospital. "There is as of yet no clear consensus why women are at increased risk."
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) partially supported the study of 2,968 men and women age 40 and older, with some history of cigarette smoking, to determine which risk indicators - age, gender, number of years smoking - when combined with the size and texture of lung nodules found on CT scans impacted the probability of developing lung cancer. The research was part of the Early Lung Cancer Action Project (ELCAP), designed to evaluate the usefulness of annual CT screenings in people at high risk for lung cancer.
A total of 77 lung cancers were diagnosed in the 2,968 men and women screened. Researchers used logistic regression to further study the probability of malignancy based on nodule size and texture for 1,097 participants who had at least one lung nodule.
"We also found that the more you smoke - and as you age - the greater the chances of developing lung cancer," said Dr. Henschke, the study's lead author.
