Lung cancer deaths rise for European women

The death rates for major cancers including stomach,uterus,prostate and leukemia will all likely fall in 2011.

But the number of women dying from lung cancer is spiking everywhere in Europe except the UK,where rates are leveling off after a decade of increasing. In Britain and Poland,more women are dying of lung cancer than breast cancer. In European men,lung cancer rates have been steadily dropping. The trend reflects similar patterns in the US,where rates of lung cancer in women peaked years after the epidemic in men.

The study was published online today in the journal,Annals of Oncology.

Carlo La Vecchia,a cancer expert at the Mario Negri Institute and the University of Milan,who led the study,said the reasons for Europe’s high lung cancer rates among women may be partly cultural. “Women may have greater difficulty stopping smoking because when you stop,you tend to gain three to four kilograms (six to nine pounds),” La Vecchia said. “For women,it may be more of a psychological addiction that is harder to break.”