Lung Cancer Awareness Month
November 22, 2022 2022-11-22 11:25Lung Cancer Awareness Month
Know the cause and effects of lung cancer
Every year, approximately 218,500 people are affected by lung cancer in the United States. Out of those people, about 142,000 die from the disease. To bring more awareness to the community of this increasing epidemic, November was labeled as Lung Cancer Awareness Month in 1995.
85% of lung cancer cases and 90% of cancer deaths are mainly attributed to smoking and vaping. More importantly, electronic cigarettes, which is an expanding niche among teenagers especially high schoolers. Further aliases of electronic cigarettes are “e-cigs”, “vapes”, “e-hookahs”, and “vape pens”.
Lung cancer can be genetic, but it is just as commonly found in people that intake nicotine daily. A few symptoms that are very frequent in people with the disease are persistent coughs, repeated respiratory infection, shortness of breath, coughing up blood, unexplained weight loss, and shoulder, arm, chest, or back pain. Those are the most distinct indications found in patients along with vomiting, seizures, high blood sugar, or pressure.
These signs can be hard to connect to lung cancer for an average person. Even then, most won’t make the effort to make a trip to the doctors. Although, the best way to recognize lung cancer is
getting a yearly lung cancer screening starting at the age of around 30, especially if you have had a history of smoking or have quit smoking in the last 15 years.
Thankfully due to advancements in technology, there are many different ways to treat lung cancer. These include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy. But the best way to stop lung cancer is at its source by quitting smoking and vaping now to prevent this disease from happening later in life.
