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Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality in the United States, accounting for 21% of all deaths.1 This year, more than 238,340 U.S. men and women will be diagnosed with lung cancer, and over 127,000 will die from the disease. Lung cancer is generally diagnosed at an advanced, incurable stage because patients often lack signs and symptoms in the early stages of the disease. Several factors have been shown to contribute to the development of lung cancer, smoking and exposure to environmental carcinogens being the most prevalent; however, 10-15% of lung cancers occur in people who are non-smokers.2 Lung cancer risk for our military is significant, with 24% to as high as 38% of Service Members smoking compared to 14% of civliians.3 Deployments also worsen smoking rates by about 50%. Among military Veterans, lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths, with about 15 Veterans dying of lung cancer each day.4 An estimated 900,000 Veterans remain at risk due to age, smoking, and other environmental exposures during and after military service.5 Despite improved screening methods for lung cancer and advances in treatment, the 5-year survival rate remains low at 28% for non-small cell lung cancer and only 7% for small cell lung cancer.1
1 https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/common.html.
2 https://www.cancer.org/cancer/latest-news/why-lung-cancer-strikes-nonsmokers.html
3 US Secretary of Defense. 2016. Memorandum for Secretaries of the Military Departments. Washington, DC: US Secretary of Defense.
4 https://www.research.va.gov/programs/pop/lpop.cfm.
5 Moghanaki, D and Hagan M. 2020. Strategic Initiatives for Veterans with Lung Cancer. Federal Practitioner, S76.
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