Lung Cancer Rates Are Increasing Among Never-Smokers

In a 2004 Surgeon General report, the percentage of lung cancer patients who never smoked was estimated to be 10% to 15% of the total lung cancer population.

To reassess that figure, investigators performed a retrospective analysis of lung cancer registry data for the years 1990 to 2013 from three diverse sources: the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center private patient facilities in Dallas, Parkland charitable county hospital in Dallas, and Vanderbilt University in Nashville. A total of 10,593 patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and 1510 patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) were evaluated.

Results were as follows:

• The percentage of NSCLC patients who never smoked increased from 8.0% to 14.9% from the years 1990–…