A recent study conducted by French researchers found that lung cancer rates are rising among non-smokers and women. In the study – which looked at 7,610 lung cancer patients and 7,610 new cases of lung cancer in France in 2010 – researchers found that non-smokers made up 11.9 percent of the lung cancer cases, a figure well above the 7.9 percent in 2000.
In addition, researchers indicated that the percentage of female lung cancer patients went from 16 percent to 24.4 percent during that same time frame. Even more troubling, researchers noted that they saw an increase in the severity of the cancer at the time it was diagnosed, with more cases being diagnosed at stage 4 of the disease.
More research is needed to figure out what is causing the increases according to the physicians who led the study, but they pointed to exhaust fumes from diesel engines as a possible factor in the rise of lung cancer cases in non-smokers.