Lowering Your Risk of Lung Cancer

More people in the United States die of lung cancer than of any other cancer. Each year about 220,000 people in the country develop it and about 132,000 die of it. Symptoms vary, and most people have none until the cancer is advanced. There are several ways to lower the risk.

Benefits of Cessation Over Time. CDC.

Are You At Risk For Radon? CDC.

Don't smoke

Cigarette smoking is the leading risk factor for lung cancer. It causes about 80% of U.S. lung cancer deaths, and smoking tobacco causes nearly 9 in 10 lung cancer cases — and cancer almost anywhere else in the body. The single most important step is never to start, or, if you smoke, to quit. It is never too late. Free help is available at smokefree.gov, by calling 1-800-QUIT-NOW (784-8669), or by texting "QUIT" to 47848. The body starts to recover soon after quitting and keeps improving over time.

Avoid secondhand smoke

Smoke from other people's cigarettes, pipes or cigars — secondhand smoke — causes lung cancer in adults who have never smoked.

Test your home for radon

Radon is a gas you cannot see, smell or taste. It comes naturally from rocks and soil and can dissolve in groundwater, and it is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, after cigarette smoke. People are exposed mainly by breathing radon that seeps into homes and buildings through cracks and gaps in the foundation. Test your home, and lower the level if it is high. CDC tells the story of Jackie, who never smoked but developed lung cancer and learned why.

Should you be screened?

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends a yearly low-dose CT scan for people who meet all three conditions:

• a smoking history of 20 pack-years or more;
• currently smoke, or quit within the past 15 years;
• aged 50 to 80.

A pack-year means smoking an average of one pack a day for a year, so 20 pack-years could be a pack a day for 20 years or two packs a day for 10.

Talk with your doctor about your risk of lung cancer and the possible downsides of screening. If screening is right for you, your doctor can refer you to a high-quality screening center.

Sources

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: "Lung Cancer Awareness."
• The films are the agency's own low-resolution copies, recovered from the Internet Archive's record of cdc.gov.