If you've never touched a cigarette or vaped, lung cancer may be the furthest thing from your mind. While the number of cases of tobacco-related lung cancer has fallen, more non-smokers are surprisingly getting the disease, according to a doctor. "We often say if you have lungs, you can get lung cancer ," Dr.
Natasha Leighl, clinician investigator with Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, said in an interview with CTV's Your Morning on Monday. With the rise in cases among non-smokers, Leighl shared ways to prevent it. What are the biggest risk factors? You're more likely to get lung cancer if you're exposed to second-hand smoke, air pollution, as well as radon, Leighl said.
Radon is a radioactive gas created from the natural decay of uranium in all rocks and soils, according to the World Health Organization. Genetics also plays an important role in developing lung cancer, she added. There are differences in lung cancer between non-smokers and smokers.
"Ninety per cent of patients with lung cancer in non-smokers have a specific gene that's gone wrong in cancer," she said. The good news is new treatments and therapies can help people who've been diagnosed with cancer live years longer than in the past, she said. Cancer statistics It's a mystery why more women are getting lung cancer, Leighl said.
Approximately 17,300 women developed lung cancer this year compared to 14,800 men, according to the Canadian Cancer Society. Among non-smokers, lung cancer is more common in wom.