Originally published November 3 2005
Research shows women survive lung cancer longer than men
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
At an international assembly held by the American College of Chest Physicians, research conducted at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine demonstrated that women who contract lung cancer live longer than men afflicted with the disease.
Even without treatment, women who have lung cancer live longer than men with the disease, according to a new study presented at Chest 2005, the 71st annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP).
Among patients receiving treatment for lung cancer, women had significantly better survival rates than men, researchers found.
Women also had a decreased risk of death -- 21 percent lower -- compared to men in a group of patients who received no treatment, leading researchers to believe that lung cancer has a different biologic behavior and natural history in women than in men.
"Yet, new data suggest that even in untreated patients, women with lung cancer still live longer than men, despite the presence of other medical conditions or gender differences in life expectancy," he adds.
"This suggests that the progression of lung cancer has a biological basis, with the disease being more aggressive in men than women."
Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine reviewed 18,967 cases of stage I and II non-small cell lung cancer diagnosed between 1991 and 1999 from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry linked to Medicare records.
Women in the three groups had significantly better cancer specific, overall, and relative survival than men, researchers found, after making adjustments for comorbidities and general life expectancy.
Among untreated patients, women had a 21 percent decreased risk of lung cancer deaths compared to men, after adjusting for differences in age, race, socioeconomic status, access to care and cancer histology.
Women lived longer than men after controlling for age, race, disease stage at diagnosis, histology, median income, geographic area, access to care, and type of treatment, researchers found.
"It is clear that gender plays a role in the survival rate of men and women," says W. Michael Alberts, MD, FCCP, President of the American College of Chest Physicians.
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