AR Sajid
LAHORE: The female mortality rate from lung cancer will exceed from the number of deaths from breast cancer in the European Union (EU), according to a study published in the British journal “Annals of Oncology”.
A prediction made by researchers from the universities of Milan, Italy and Lausanne, Switzerland said that the death rate from lung cancer this year will be 14.24 women per hundred thousand, while breast cancer will be 14.22.
Professor of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Milan Carlo La Vecchia, one of the authors of the research, noted that “we must be cautious with these figures as they are predictions and results of 2015 will not be known until three or four years”.
“The British and Polish women have presented higher mortality rates from lung cancer since they began smoking since World War II, while in other European countries smoking was not widespread among women until after 1968”, said the La Vecchia.
Fabio Levi, co-author and professor of biology at faculty of the University of Lausanne, said that although deaths from cancer in general tend to descend in Europe, smoking is still the major cause of mortality among cancer patients in the EU.
“Smoking causes between 15 and 25% of pancreatic cancers, between 85% and 90% of lung cancers and has a direct relationship in the development of other tumours”, said the Professor from the University of Lausanne.
In general, the study predicts 1,359,100 deaths from cancer in the 28 countries of the European Union in 2015: 766,200 men and 592,900 women.
This represents a fall of 7.5% in men and 6% in women since 2009 as well as a decrease of 26% and 21% respectively since 1988, the year with highest record of deaths from cancer.
In Pakistan, 35% men and 22% women are smokers and rate of female smokers is increasingly rapidly. Further, 1200 children start smoking every day in Pakistan, as revealed in a workshop organised by the APWA (All Pakistan Women’s Association). Smoking in students is also increasing since between 16.5-31% of male students and 2.4-6% of female students from Pakistan smoke; percentages similar to those discovered in studies from other Asian countries.