Lung cancer: the epidemiological data

In France, 39,500 cases of lung cancer were diagnosed in 2012. Lung cancer thus accounts for 10% of all new cancer cases.

The lung is the second most common cancer location in terms of occurrence in men (28,000), after the prostate (71,500), but it remains the most deadly.

In women 11,000 lung cancer cases are diagnosed each year in France, making it the third most frequent cancer, after breast cancer (52,500 cases) and colorectal cancer (19,000).

Lung cancer occurs at an average age of 66.

Following an upturn until the end of the 1990s, the occurrence of lung cancer and its mortality in men has been declining.

On the other hand, the occurrence and mortality of lung cancer continues to increase in women.

These variations can be explained by the discrepancy between the changes in habits (decreased tobacco use in men and increased use in women) and the emergence of cancers related to these habits, 20 to 30 years later.