Majority of lung cancer patients in India have never smoked in their life, according to a study. Lung cancer among Southeast Asians is distinct and different from other regions of Asia and the Western world, scientists say.
In one study, they also found that the genetic makeup of lung cancer in India is ‘shaped by the complex diversity of the country’s people’.
They also mentioned that most lung cancer patients in India have never smoked in their life. Also, according to research results, air pollution can cause lung cancer even in non-smokers.
In light of these results, scientists have called for regional studies of lung cancer, saying that some specific climate variables, such as air pollution and other environmental factors that cause cancer, play a direct role in lung cancer.
The study, published in the Lancet’s journal of clinical medicine, also involved a team of researchers from Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, India.
Research has shown that lung cancer in India is diagnosed about a decade earlier than in Western countries. Usually the person is diagnosed between 54 and 70 years of age. One reason for this is that India has a relatively young population (28.2 years) compared to the United States (median age 38 years) and China (39 years).
Individual regional risk factors such as air pollution and genetic mutations also play a role in lung cancer, the researchers noted.
The incidence of lung cancer has increased from 6.62 per 100,000 people in 1990 to 7.7 per 100,000 people in 2019.
In the study, the scientists mentioned the fear that the rate of this cancer may increase greatly in urban areas by 2025.
In another paper in the same research series, researchers from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences analyzed the impact of climate change on lung cancer in Asia.
Citing the 2022 World Air Quality Report, researchers said that 37 of the world’s 40 most polluted cities are located in South Asia. And India is among the 4 most polluted countries in the world.
China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand have been the most affected by national disasters among the countries of the Asian continent. In these countries in 2020, more than 965 thousand people were newly diagnosed with lung cancer, researchers said.
