LUNG CANCER

Comparison of Lung Cancer in the U.S. vs. Canada



Comparison of Lung Cancer in the U.S. vs. Canada

Introduction

Cancer

Cancer is an abnormality, a disorder that affects the cells of our body. Our body is composed of a multitude of cells; each specialized in a specific function, such as filter impurities from the blood (renal cell) or transport oxygen throughout the body (blood cells). Cancer is a group of diseases in which the body produces an excess of cells malignant (cancerous or cancerous cells called), with growth and division beyond the normal limits (invasion of tissue surrounding and sometimes metastasis). Metastasis is the spread at a distance, mainly via lymphatic or blood, cells originating from cancer, and the growth of new tumors in the destinations of such metastases. These properties differentiate benign from malignant tumors, which are limited and do not invade or metastasize. Normal cells at the contact with neighboring cells inhibit reproduction, but the malignant cells do not have this "brake". Most cancers form tumors but some do not (such as leukemia)

Lung Cancer

Lung cancer usually begins to form in the mid-fifties or sixties. Smoking is responsible for 80% to 90% of cases of lung cancer. This cancer is particularly threatening because it can easily spread to the rest of the body than other types of cancer. Indeed, all the blood through the lungs to be oxygenated and lungs are in close contact with some blood and lymph vessels. Lung cancer is even more alarming that it is often discovered late. The lung cancer is a very serious disease that affects a vital organ in our body. In the United States and Canada, the malignant tumor of the lung is the most common malignancy in men and the second in the female.

In the United States and Canada on an average, there are about 35,000 lung cancer deaths per year. The main cause is smoking, guilty of 80-85% of all new cases of lung cancer seen in Western countries. The smoking status is steadily increasing among women, while at the end of 80 years; there has been a slow regression of the number of male smokers. Currently about 1 / 3 of men smoke, while among women the number of smokers is about 20%, a percentage significantly higher than in previous decades (Thun, 2008). This is in clear relationship with the growing number of cases of lung cancer registered in the fairer sex. The basis for this increase could be even greater susceptibility to the effect of the female organism as a carcinogen in cigarette smoke. The reduction in the number of male smokers in the last twenty years has instead been accompanied by a clear reversal of the trend, recording a decrease in the number of people affected by lung cancer.

Risk Factors for cancer

There are nine factors which exposes a person to the risk of developing cancer in both the countries. They are overweight and obesity, low fruit and vegetable consumption, physical inactivity, smoking, consumption of alcohol, pollution of air ...