Lung cancer remains the deadliest in the world. In Belgium, every year, 6,000 people die from it. Renaud Louis, director of the pneumology department of the CHU de Liège was with us in the RTL Info 13 hours.
If cancer is the deadliest cancer in the world, it owes it overwhelmingly to tobacco. As confirmed by Renaud Louis, director of the pulmonology department at the University Hospital of Liège, almost all lung cancer patients are tobacco smokers.
“Tobacco remains the main factor. There are others of course, but that remains the main element. We did a survey recently that showed 93% of lung cancer patients were smokers.“, explains the doctor.
The duration of smoking as the main reason for cancers
And even if you quit smoking, it’s still possible to be diagnosed with cancer years later. “If you smoke until age 60, for example, it will be quite possible to have lung cancer 10 years later“, specifies Renaud Louis. “Conversely, if we stop at 30, and at 60, we have no cancer diagnosis, then we estimate that we have returned to the average.“.
What the doctor also wanted to emphasize is that this cancer, which is very common, is completely preventable. “It is the cancer that kills the most in the world, but it is the one that is nevertheless the most preventable, because we know the main reasons for its appearance.“.
Increase in the number of cases among women
In recent years, the numbers of cases of lung cancer in women have increased. “Today, women smoke as much as men. It’s just a reflection of changes in smoking habits over the past 30-40 years.”