Press Release • 10.02.2021Decreasing Death Rate from Lung Cancer among Men – Further Increase among Women

In the 1950s, mortality from lung cancer amng men was even almost ten times higher than among women. Meanwhile, the trends run contrarily: While the death rate due to lung cancer has been decreasing continuously among males for three decades, it is further increasing for females. This is due to tobacco consumption, which spread among women later than among men. “We observe a delay of 20 to 30 years. Therefore, the peak of the health consequences due to the smoking epidemic has not yet been reached for women,” explains demographer Dr. Pavel Grigoriev from BiB. This is particularly true for women in Western Germany who show a higher mortality from lung cancer than women in the East. Among men, however, the death rate in Eastern Germany is higher than in the West. These regional mortality differences mirror varying smoking rates.

The consequences of smoking are however even more severe than these numbers show. Indeed, only a small proportion of premature deaths that are caused by smoking, are due to lung cancer. Thus, smoking also raises mortality from cardiovascular, respiratory and other diseases. On the other hand, there are alternate risk factors for lung cancer, which, however, only play a minor part compared to smoking: “Lung cancer is determined – first and foremost – by smoking behaviour,” Grigoriev emphasises. “Further measures to reduce tobacco consumption could prevent many future premature deaths in Germany.”