Lung Cancer Awareness Month

Every month some cancer gets a spotlight. Aside from the media buzz and merchandising leverage associated with these months (pink batteries for breast cancer), there is a very serious problem. The reason these diseases need a month of awareness is because they are only becoming more prevalent and more deadly. November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month (LCAM) and we'd like to highlight some of the statistics and resources available on this topic.

About 219,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer in the U.S. each year – over 103,000 women and nearly 116,000 men. This is more than breast, colon and prostate cancers combined.

Smoking is one of the main causes of lung cancer, and even though smoking cessation greatly reduces the risk of cancer 50 percent of all lung cancers occur in people who have already quit smoking.

Less money is spent on lung cancer research than on research on other cancers.

For some great illustrative tables that visually represent a lot of this information check out The Lung Cancer Alliance.

Risk Factors for lung cancer include:

• Smoking
• Exposure to second-hand smoke
• Exposure to radon gas
• Exposure to asbestos and other chemicals
• Family history of lung cancer or other kinds of cancer
• Excessive alcohol consumption

Mayo Clinic has a list of 7 tips to reduce your risk of all cancers.

For more information on quitting smoking and great resources to make that effore successful check out Livestrong's site. They even have an iPhone app to support people taking the challange of quitting.

Always talk to a doctor about smoking cessation, you may be familliar with the speach that all doctors give about smoking, but are you aware of all the resources and help available? Doctors are in touch with the most current and most effective ways to reduce and quit, and they're able to help you find what will work best in your situation.