‘Pollution causes lung cancer in youth’

NEW DELHI: Lung cancer is no more a smoker’s disease and there is a growing incidence in youth, mostly owing to environmental factors like air pollution, a study on 150 lung cancer patients in Delhi has found.

In the analysis, conducted by Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH), nearly 21 per cent of the patients were below the age of 50 years. What is even more disturbing was that five out of 31 patients in the younger than 50 years of age group were less than 30 years of age. Nearly 50 per cent of the patients were non-smokers.

The study done on patients who underwent treatment at SGRH from March 2012 to June 2018, was released on Tuesday, a day before the World Lung Cancer Day. The aim of this analysis was to assess the demographic details of these patients and discover the trend.

Even more distressing was the fact that the figure of non-smokers rose to 70 per cent in the younger age group (i.e. less than 50 years). None of the less than 30 years patients were smokers.

The male to female ratio of the study group was 3.8: 1, indicating a significant rise in the proportion of female patients compared to studies in the past, which had reported a much lower incidence in females.  

"Lung cancer is called a smoker's disease, a disease of old age and strong male preponderance — but this scenario is fast changing,” said a statement by SGRH.

"Despite the limitation of having a small number of patients, our study indicates a disturbing trend,” the study added.