Lung cancer incidence steadily increasing among young, middle-aged U.S. women
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Key takeaways:
- Lung cancer incidence rates remained highest among women aged 35 to 54 years between 2015 and 2019.
- Lung cancer incidence rates remained lower among women vs. men aged 55 years and older.
Lung cancer incidence remained higher among U.S. women aged younger than 50 years compared with men, according to a research letter published in JAMA Oncology.
In addition, the higher incidence rates extended to women aged between 50 and 54 years, researchers noted.
Rationale and methodology
“In 2018, we reported that lung cancer incidence rates among individuals aged younger than 50 years were higher in women than in men in the United States, reversing the historically higher incidence rates in men compared with women,” Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD, senior vice president of surveillance and health equity science at American Cancer Society, told Healio. “In the current study, we sought to examine whether the higher lung cancer incidence rates in young women persisted in this contemporary cohort.”
Researchers assessed population-based incidence data on lung and bronchus cancers diagnosed between 2000 and 2019 from the SEER database. They categorized cases by sex and age in 5-year increments and year of diagnosis, including 2000-2004, 2005-2009, 2010-2014 and 2015-2019.
Findings
Results showed lung cancer incidence rates remained highest among women aged 35 to 54 years between 2015 and 2019.
In addition, the lung cancer incidence rate decreased by 44% among men aged 50 to 54 years compared with an only 20% decrease among women in the same age group, which corresponded to a female-to-male incidence rate ratio increase from 0.73 between 2000 and 2004 to 1.05 between 2015 and 2019.
However, results also showed that lung cancer incidence rates remained lower among women aged 55 years and older vs. men in the same age group. Among those aged 70 to 74 years, the female-to-male incidence rate ratio increased from 0.62 between 2000 and 2004 to 0.81 between 2015 and 2019.
Researchers acknowledged study limitations, including the lack of individual risk factor data in the analytical database, and not accounting for the growth in populations born outside the U.S. during the study period.
Implications
The findings reinforce the importance of smoking cessation among young and middle-aged women in clinical settings, Jemal told Healio.
“Further research is needed to uncover the reasons why lung cancer incidence rates among young and middle-aged persons are higher in women than in men,” he said. “In the meantime, we need to intensify our efforts to promote smoking cessation among young and middle-aged women at both the health care provider and community levels. In addition, eligible women should be encouraged to undergo lung cancer screening.”
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