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Many women recently diagnosed with lung cancer have normal lung function and perform better on lung function tests recently diagnosed men, according to a new study published in CHEST, the journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.
Researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (ACCP) said that unlike men, a significant proportion of women with newly diagnosed lung cancer had normal lung function on pulmonary function tests.
Furthermore, significantly more men than women had Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, at the time of their diagnosis. COPD is a condition which inhibits the lungs ability to exhale air as rapidly as in normal lungs, and progressively and permanently reduces lung function.
"These findings suggest that the susceptibility patterns among women may be different compared with men," said Dr. Raghu Loganathan. "Using the presence of COPD alone as a criterion to determine a patient's risk may miss women with lung cancer."
Loganathan and colleagues used pulmonary function testing to compare the prevalence of COPD 151 men and 143 women who were newly diagnosed with lung cancer.
At the time of diagnosis, 72.8 percent of men presented with COPD compared to 52.4 percent of women. Among patients who smoked (87 percent), COPD occurred in 74.8 percent in men and 57.3 percent in women. Both former and current smokers were about 10 times more likely to have COPD than nonsmokers.
"The absence of COPD should not lower the risk in a female patient who is otherwise considered to be at increased likelihood for developing lung cancer," said Loganathan. "Physicians must consider additional (and well- established) risk factors, such as smoking history and age of the patient, when contemplating lung cancer screening."
"Understanding the role that gender has in the development of lung cancer may help identify more advanced screening methods and new approaches to preventive care," said Dr. W. Michael Alberts, President of the American College of Chest Physicians.
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