Lung cancer becoming a bigger killer
By Justin Worland, Time
For years, breast cancer has been the leading cause of cancer death among women in developed countries, but according to a report on the incidence of cancer worldwide from the American Cancer Society, lung cancer now surpasses it.
A combination of early breast cancer detection efforts and the lingering effects of the tobacco epidemic drove the shift, says lead report author Lindsey Torre, an American Cancer Society researcher. The study, which was published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians and used data from 2012, reported that lung cancer killed 209,000 women in developed countries in 2012, while 197,000 women died of breast cancer.
The report emphasized the growing incidence of cancer in the developing world. Lung cancer was the leading killer of men in developing countries and breast cancer the leading cause of death for women.
