Lung cancer in non-smoking women: 'A women's health crisis,' experts say

Lung cancer is claiming more American women's lives than breast, pancreatic, and ovarian cancers combined. This grim reality is amplified by a disturbing trend: a rising proportion of diagnoses are in women who have never smoked.

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This is a women's health crisis, but we don't talk about it.

Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, a non-smoker, died of lung cancer at age 56, a loss that deeply affected her friend and interviewer, who is now highlighting this issue. "This is a women's health crisis, but we don't talk about it," stated Dr. Kim Sandler, director of the Vanderbilt Lung Screening Program. She joined Anne Wojcicki, Susan's sister, and Shira Kupperman Boehler, a non-smoker diagnosed with lung cancer at 44, to discuss the urgent threat.

Early detection is key, with an 81% survival rate for stage I or II lung cancer, compared to just 10% for late-stage diagnoses. However, current screening recommendations, low-dose CT scans, are primarily for individuals over 50 with a 20-pack-year smoking history. This excludes a significant portion of affected women, as roughly 20% of lung cancer cases occur in non-smokers, and two-thirds of those are women. Shira Kupperman Boehler suggests screening should begin at age 40, similar to mammograms, because "The problem is we don't feel our lungs until it's too late."

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The problem is we don't feel our lungs until it's too late, until the cancer has spread to our bones, to our brain, and then it is the number one cancer killer.

Adding to the concern, Dr. Sandler noted that cancer survivors, particularly those who have had breast cancer, face an increased risk of developing lung cancer. "Once we have cancer once, we're actually at an increased risk of developing cancer again, and lung cancer is the most common cancer to develop after breast cancer," she explained. The conversation emphasized the need for broader awareness and revised screening protocols to address this critical women's health issue.

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We think about cancer as lightning striking. 'I've had this disease. I should never have to deal with this again. I'm so fortunate that I've come out on the other side.' And the truth is that once we have cancer once, we're actually at an increased risk of developing cancer again, and lung cancer is the most common cancer to develop after breast cancer.