Lung Cancer Prevention

Lung cancer prevention begins with understanding the risk factors for the disease and eliminating or minimizing the ones you can control. Perhaps the most important aspect of lung cancer prevention involves quitting (or not starting) use of tobacco products. Other lung cancer prevention strategies may involve reducing exposure to substances such as asbestos, radon, and arsenic. Studies show that adhering to a diet rich in fruit may be helpful in preventing lung cancer.

 

Lung Cancer Prevention: An Overview

Doctors cannot always explain why one person gets lung cancer and another does not. However, scientists have studied general patterns of lung cancer in the population to learn what things around us and what things we do in our lives may increase our chances of developing lung cancer.
 
Anything that increases a person's chances of developing a disease is called a risk factor; anything that decreases a person's chances of developing a disease is called a protective factor.
 
Lung cancer prevention means avoiding the lung cancer risk factors and increasing the protective factors that can be controlled so that a person's chance of developing cancer decreases.
 

Lung Cancer Prevention: Know the Risk Factors

The first step in lung cancer prevention is knowing the risk factors. Researchers have identified the following lung cancer risk factors:
 
  • Smoking
  • Second-hand smoke
  • Environmental causes
  • Beta-carotene in smokers.
     
Smoking
By far the largest risk factor for lung cancer is smoking. Studies show that smoking tobacco products in any form is the major cause of lung cancer. People who stop smoking and never start again lower their risk of developing lung cancer or of having lung cancer come back.
 
Many products are available to help people trying to quit smoking, including:
 
  • Nicotine gum
  • Nicotine sprays
  • Nicotine inhalers
  • Nicotine patches
  • Nicotine lozenges
  • Antidepressant drugs.
(Lung Cancer Prevention Continued: Page 2)
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Written by/reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD