The number of deaths among women due to lung cancer has dropped about 1% per year from 2003 to 2007, according to a report by the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society. This is the first time the death rate from lung cancer for women has droppped in four decades; the death rate for men started declining about 10 years ago. The delay in the drop for women compared to men is due to the fact that women tend to take up smoking later in life than men, with the drop in death rates due to large number of women smokers quitting the smoking habit.
The report also note that the death rates from other types of cancers continue to fall, due to earlier detection and better treatments.
Lung cancer remains the number one cancer killer in the United States, and the best way to reduce the occurrence of lung cancer is to get more smokers to quit, and encourage nonsmokers to never start.
