More passive smokers diagnosed with lung cancer, say experts

When Dr Manikandan Dhanushkodi, Assistant Professor, Cancer Institute (WIA), met a stage IV lung cancer patient, a young woman, who had no history of smoking, he was at loss of words to console her. “There was no curative option and being a non-smoker, she wanted to know what her fault was,” he says. 

He adds that clinical evidence suggests that as compared to 20 years ago, not only has incidence of lung cancers increased substantially, but also the numbers of non smokers reporting with the disease have gone up by almost 10 per cent. “While we are yet to conduct a similar analysis in India, there is consensus in the medical community that the toxic air being inhaled in leading metropolitan cities is driving a major surge in cases of lung cancer,” he said. Like  Dr Manikandan, Dr Anitha Ramesh, Prof and Head Medical oncology, Saveetha Medical college and Hospital, too has seen non-smoking patients who have approached her in the third and fourth stages of cancer. She says, “Especially in India, we have many contributing factors like industrial pollution  and asbestos, a common roofing material, which is a known to be carcinogenic.” 

According to experts, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the country because most of it diagnosed in the last stages and the diagnosis is delayed further, if a person is a non-smoker, since we often associate smoking with the disease. Dr MA Raja, senior medical oncologist, Apollo Speciality Hospital, says, that 3 lakh cases of lung cancer are reported every year in India and this is expected to go up by 30 per cent by 2020. He adds, “The worrisome part is that in people who do not smoke, the symptoms of lung cancer are more subtle and may appear later than in smokers. The symptoms often include shortness of breath, fatigue, pain in the back or shoulder or bone pain. 

Most of these symptoms might be associated with other ailments such as advancing age, arthritis or viral infections.” While other types of cancer have screening, lung cancer till recently didn’t have a screening mechanism in place. 

“We now have the low-dose CT Scan for smokers and we cannot use X Ray as screening method as it contains small amount of radioactive substance,” she says. Also patients with persistent cough, change in the voice, blood in the sputum, weight loss need to consult the doctor for evaluation and treatment. Lung cancer is preventable and diagnosis at an early stage is curable, points out Dr Manikandan.

In TN: 5-6 per 100,000 men and 1.5-2 per 100,000 women 

In Chennai: 12-13 per 100,000 men and 3 to 4 per 100,000 women 

Studies show that 15% of the patients are those who have never smoked in life 

The common factors for these are passive smoking and air pollution 

Those located in highly polluted areas or industrial zones too are prone to it