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Lung Cancer |
Lung Cancer Causes, Genetics, Prevention
Overview of Prevention
Prevention
Doctors cannot always explain why one person gets cancer and another does not. However, scientists have studied general patterns of cancer in the population to learn what things around us and what things we do in our lives may increase our chance of developing cancer.
Anything that increases a person’s chance of developing a disease is called a risk factor; anything that decreases a person’s chance of developing a disease is called a protective factor. Some of the risk factors for cancer can be avoided, but many cannot. For example, although you can choose to quit smoking, you cannot choose which genes you have inherited from your parents. Both smoking and inheriting specific genes could be considered risk factors for certain kinds of cancer, but only smoking can be avoided. Prevention means avoiding the risk factors and increasing the protective factors that can be controlled so that the chance of developing cancer decreases.
Although many risk factors can be avoided, it is important to keep in mind that avoiding risk factors does not guarantee that you will not get cancer. Also, most people with a particular risk factor for cancer do not actually get the disease. Some people are more sensitive than others to factors that can cause cancer. Talk to your doctor about methods of preventing cancer that might be effective for you.
Purposes of this summary
The purposes of this summary on prevention and cessation of cigarette smoking are to:
- Give information on counseling methods used by health professionals to improve quit rates of smokers.
- Describe various drug treatments used to improve quit rates of smokers.
You can talk to your doctor or health care professional about prevention and cessation methods and whether they would be likely to help you.
Control of Tobacco Use
Tobacco is one of the strongest cancer-causing agents and has been estimated to account for about 30% of cancer deaths in the United States. Smoking increases the risk of many types of cancer including, cancers of the lung, throat, mouth, pancreas, kidney, bladder, cervix, and others.
Smoking is also causally associated with many other diseases besides cancer, including coronary heart disease, stroke, emphysema, and bronchitis, as well as adverse outcomes of pregnancy. Well over 400,000 premature deaths in the United States each year are attributable to cigarette smoking.
Smoking can also affect the health of nonsmokers. The same cancer-causing chemicals found in inhaled tobacco smoke have been found in second-hand tobacco smoke but in lower concentrations. Nonsmokers exposed to second-hand smoke are at increased risk for lung cancer and coronary heart disease, and children exposed to tobacco smoke have elevated risks of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), ear infections and respiratory infections.
In 1998, 26% of adult men and 22% of adult women were current smokers. Cigarette smoking is more common in American Indians/Alaska Natives. Lung cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. In the last 30 years, the number of smokers has decreased, especially among men. Since the 1980s, the lung cancer death rate among men has been decreasing and appears to be plateauing.
Prevention and cessation of cigarette smoking
Most of the health problems related to cigarette smoking, including cancer and cardiovascular disease risks, can be reduced by stopping smoking. Quitting smoking is beneficial at all ages, and the earlier in life one quits, the greater the benefits. One study estimated that men who quit smoking by age 50 reduced their risk of lung cancer by almost two thirds compared to men who continued to smoke at age 75.
Many methods of quitting smoking have been studied. The following are the more common methods used to help smokers quit.
Counseling Methods: The ASK, ADVISE, ASSESS, ASSIST, and ARRANGE model was developed to help health care professionals with their patients who smoke. Using this model, the physician asks the patient about their smoking status at every visit; advises the patient to stop smoking; assesses the patient’s willingness to quit; assists the patient by setting a date to quit smoking, provides self-help materials, and recommends use of nicotine replacement therapy (e.g., the nicotine patch); and arranges for follow-up visits.
Drug Treatment: Various drug treatments are successful in helping people quit smoking. Nicotine replacement products i.e., nicotine gum, the nicotine patch, nicotine nasal spray, nicotine inhaler, and the antidepressant drug, bupropion, have been studied and approved as drug treatments to help people quit smoking.
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