Lung cancer is the UK’s biggest cancer killer-  but it can be cured if diagnosed early enough

It kills more people in this country than breast cancer, prostate cancer, bladder cancer and leukaemia combined

33,000 people die from lung cancer in the UK every year

The disease accounts for one in 20 of all deaths in the UK

Lung cancer accounts for one in six of all cancer cases and one in four of all cancer deaths

Currently you are four times more likely to survive lung cancer is some parts of the country than others

One in eight people with lung cancer have never smoked a cigarette

Around a quarter of people with lung cancer in England and Wales (24%) will live to one year6 and less than one in ten (6% in England and Wales) are still alive five years after diagnosis

More women die from lung cancer than breast cancer

Half of all people in the UK know someone that has died or been affected by lung cancer

Average five year survival for lung cancer in England is around 7.5 percent compared to a European average of over nine percentand a 15 percent average in the United States

In addition to smoking. passive smoking (second-hand smoking), exposure to radon gas, asbestos and other chemicals, together with diet and family history can all increase the risk of developing the disease

References:

1. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/mortality
2. http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/college/ceeu/ceeu_lung_home.htm
3. Cancer Atlas of UK and Ireland, 2005. Chapter 13, p139
4. http://www.performance.doh.gov.uk/nhsperformanceindicators/2002/hacals_d.html
5. UK figures extrapolated from Mannino DM, Ford E, Giovono GA & Thun M. ‘Lung cancer deaths in the United States from 1979 to 1992: an analysis using multiple-cause mortality data. Int J Epidemiol 1998; 27: 159-166
6. One- and five-year survival of patients diagnosed in 1991-95 and 1996-99: major cancers, sex and age, England and Wales. 2005. (Accessed at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=10821.)
7. Coleman M, Rachet B, Woods L, et al.Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in cancer survival in England and Wales up to 2001. British Journal of Cancer 2004; 90.
8. GfK NOP Telebus. 30 Sept-2 Oct 2005
9. EUROCARE 3. Cancer survival in Europe: IARC, 2003 (Accessed 14 Suppl 5, at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=
   Abstract&list_uids=14684501&query_hl=1.)  and http://www.eurocare.it/
10. Ries LAG, Eisner MP, Kosary CL, et al. SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2001. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute; 2004
11. http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/lung/riskfactors/