THURSDAY, Sept. 15 (HealthDay News) -- The prevalence of lung cancer in the United States is beginning to decrease for women and has decreased substantially for men in the last decade, most rapidly in states with fewer smokers, according to research published in the Sept. 16 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
To assess trends in lung cancer incidence in the United States and their correlation with cigarette smoking, S. Jane Henley, M.S.P.H., of the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues analyzed data from the National Program of Cancer Registries and the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program for the near-decade between 1999 and 2008.
The researchers found a decrease in lung cancer incidence among men in 35 states, and among women in six states. The lowest rates and most rapid declines in lung cancer were found in states primarily in the West, where the prevalence of smoking is low and the prevalence of quitters is high.
"To continue these decreases in lung cancer incidence, current tobacco control funding for states needs to be increased to implement and sustain successful programs to reduce cigarette smoking and secondhand smoke exposure," the authors write.
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