Smoking to get slim puts UK women at top of Europe's lung cancer table

Smoking to get slim puts UK women at top of Europe's lung cancer table - The rate of lung cancer deaths among British women is the highest in Europe after many took up smoking to lose weight.

Researchers say it is three times higher than in Spain, the country with the lowest rate.

An estimated 15,632 women will die from lung cancer this year in the UK, up from 14,900 in 2007, according to a study published today. Lung cancer causes the most deaths from cancer in women in Britain.

An estimated 15,632 women will die from lung cancer this year in the UK. Experts blame the epidemic on women taking up smoking to get slim

Experts blame the epidemic on the fact women took up smoking in large numbers later in the 20th century than men – often in an attempt to control weight.

In addition, for genetic reasons women smokers are more at risk of developing lung cancer earlier than men and after smoking fewer cigarettes.

The study looks at cancer deaths in the European Union between 1970 and 2007 and predicts death rates for 2011.

Lung cancer death rates in British women have been the highest in the EU for a decade, reaching 20.57 per 100,000 in 2007.

The rate is predicted to level off this year at 20.33, which is three times higher than the estimated rate of 6.48 in Spain.

Lung cancer death rates in men in the UK are predicted to fall from 33.13 in 2007 to 28.29 this year, with deaths down from 19,700 to 18,245.

Lung cancer death rates in British women have been the highest in the EU for a decade, reaching 20.57 per 100,000 in 2007

Overall, cancer death rates across Europe are predicted to fall this year, with almost 1.3million dying from the disease, according to the researchers, from the University of Milan and the University of Lausanne.

The figures – published in the Annals of Oncology journal – show cancer death rates falling by 7 per cent in men and 6 per cent in women compared with 2007.

Women have been quitting smoking at a slower rate than men. But death rates are higher in men because the proportion of men who smoked used to be much larger than the proportion of women and the health effects of this are still being felt. ( dailymail.co.uk )

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