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Does where you live affect your risk for lung cancer? Just possibly, experts warn.

Although cigarette smoking is the principal cause of most lung cancers, new research has found evidence that Americans who live in areas where air quality is poor may be at greater risk...

Quitting smoking will have benefits, even for those who are later diagnosed with lung cancer, new research indicates.

While often studies compare outcomes for smokers vs. never smokers, investigators found that quitting smoking earlier also was beneficial.

Among people diagnosed with the most common type of lung cancer, called non-small cell lung cancer, current smokers had 68% hig...

Nearly one-third of Americans live in counties with unhealthy air, according to a new report from the American Lung Association.

One in three, or 120 million, people lives with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution, the “State of the Air” report says.

While air quality has improved overall, there are major differences between Eastern and Western states and in air poll...

Adding menthol flavoring to electronic cigarettes may damage your lungs more than regular e-cigarettes do, a new study reveals.

The common mint flavoring helps deliver lots more toxic microparticles, compared with e-cigarette pods that don't contain menthol. It's those microparticles that damage lung function, researchers say.

"Beware of additives in the e-cigarettes," said senior r...

Retired nurse Tannaz Ameli was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer last winter. When chemotherapy failed, her doctors recommended hospice care.

But Ameli, of Minneapolis, had other ideas. She and her husband sought out a pioneering medical team at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. Today, she is a survivor of a double-lung transplant -- just the second this team of specialists has succ...

Some patients having surgery for early-stage lung cancer may no longer need to lose an entire lobe of their lung, new research shows.

The study results are from a phase 3 clinical trial sponsored by the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology.

For the trial, nearly 700 patients with early-stage lung cancer were randomly chosen to receive either lobectomy surgery, which removes an e...

Electric cars are still in the minority on America's roads, yet researchers are already seeing health benefits from reduced tailpipe pollution.

In a new California study, neighborhoods with the most all-electric cars -- called zero-emission vehicles -- saw a decline in asthma-related emergency room visits. Researchers believe this was a result of lower levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in...

The best treatment for a genetically driven form of lung cancer continues to show lasting benefits, a new clinical trial update shows.

Tagrisso (osimertinib) nearly doubles disease-free survival in earlier-stage patients whose lung cancer is driven by a mutation in their EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) gene, researchers report.

After four years of follow-up, disease-free sur...

Natural gas stoves have become the latest flashpoint in America's increasingly volatile political culture, after a top federal regulator publicly mulled over banning the appliances.

"This is a hidden hazard," the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) commissioner, Richa...

When it comes to tobacco control, some states do a far better job than others of preventing and reducing smoking.

A new report from the American Lung Association (ALA) notes that California, Maine, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., are doing the best job of putting proven tobacco control policies in place.

Conversely, those who have the most need to enact policies are Alabama, Mi...

A surgeon's skill has a direct impact on whether a patient will survive early-stage lung cancer.

Unfortunately, many surgeons are failing to follow a playbook that increase the odds of a successful outcome, a new study argues.

The quality of surgery for lung cancer varies widely across the United States, and patients whose procedures fall short of treatment guidelines suffer signifi...

For the first time in a decade, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed strengthening standards on fine soot in the air, a known contributor to serious health issues.

Under the new proposal, standards for fine particulate pollution, known as PM 2.5, would change from a level of 12 micrograms per cubic meter to a level between nine and 10 micrograms per cubic meter. The stand...

People should test for the naturally occurring radioactive gas radon in their homes to help prevent ill health, the American Lung Association urges.

In some areas, like the state of Connecticut, radon was found to be present at high levels in a quarter (26%) of all homes.

Radon is emitted from the ground and can enter a house through floor cracks, basement walls and foundations.

Cigars are linked with victory, new babies and Winston Churchill, not nicotine addiction, but are they any better for your health than cigarettes?

No, say experts who point out the many dangers of cigar smoking.

Over the past few decades, through clever marketing, cigar smoking has taken on a rarified aura, with cigar bars and magazines like Cigar Aficionado devoted to...

Annual lung cancer screening for heavy smokers can provide a big boost in lung cancer survival over the long term, a new study shows.

When low-dose CT screening identifies early-stage lung cancer, patients have an 80% chance of surviving 20 years, researchers found. And for some, the odds are as high as 100%.

But only 16% of lung cancers are caught early, and more than half of...

While marijuana legalization in some U.S. states and Canada may send a message that weed is harmless, that's not necessarily so, according to a new study that found lung damage was more common in marijuana smokers than tobacco users.

Research into marijuana's impact on the lungs is just getting started, because weed wasn't legal in many places until recently, but early indications are tha...

Too few people are getting screened for lung cancer.

This is the message from the American Lung Association's 2022 "State of Lung Cancer" report. Less than 6% of eligible Americans have been screened for lung cancer, and in some states, lung cancer screening rates are as...

Screening tests routinely catch cases of breast and colon cancer early, but a screening test for lung cancer is sorely underused in high-risk people and that needs to change, more than 50 cancer organizations said in a joint statement issued Tuesday.

What prompted the move? Low-dose CT screening is recommended for people who are more likely to develop lung cancer, yet only 5....

The latest statistics from the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) show a continuing decline in the number of Americans who die from cancer, although there's been little change in the number of new cancer cases.

"From 2015 to 2019, overall cancer death rates decreased by 2.1% per year in men and women combined," according to a statement issued by the NCI on Thursday.

The biggest d...

When a man has cancer in an area that affects sexual function, his doctor is likely to discuss it with him.

But the same is not true for a woman who has cancer in a sex organ, according to new research. Investigators found 9 in 10 men were asked about their sexual health, yet only 1 in 10 women received the same care.

"There seems to be a big disparity in the way we approach sexual...

As doctors work toward developing more personalized cancer care, a new study looks at whether lung cancer patients can miss a few days of radiation treatment and make them up with a higher dose.

The more treatments a patient skips, the higher their risk of early death, according to the research from Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. However, some patients may still benefit from re...

Teen vaping continues at concerning levels, U.S. health officials reported Thursday.

About 2.5 million middle school and high school students reported that they had vaped in the past 30 days in 2022,...

Replacing diesel-powered trucks and the toxic pollutants they spew with electric vehicles would save tens of thousands of U.S. lives, a new American Lung Association report says.

The benefit would accrue if all medium- and heavy-duty trucks sold have zero emissions by 2050, and if the electricity they use comes from non-combustion renewable energy, not fossil fuels, by 2035, according to ...

Smoking isn't only costly in terms of health risks, it also cost the U.S. economy $891 billion in 2020.

That was almost 10 times the cigarette industry's $92 billion revenue, according to the authors of a new American Cancer Society study.

"Economic losses from cigarette smoking far outweigh any economic benefit from the tobacco industry -- wages, and salaries of those employed by t...

Lung cancer CT screening scans can catch tumors at an earlier and more treatable stage, a new study indicates.

The number of stage 1 lung cancers detected by doctors increased 8.4% after low-dose CT screening scans were implemented across four different health care sy...

Breathing in fumes from diesel exhaust may be more damaging to women than to men, a new, small Canadian study claims.

“We already know that there are sex differences in lung diseases such as asthma and respiratory infections," said lead researcher Hemshekhar Mahadevappa, from the University of Man...

Cigarette...

Sexual dysfunction is a common side effect among women with lung cancer, a new study finds.

"The SHAWL [Sexual Health Assessment in Women with Lung Cancer] study is about bringing women's sexuality to the forefront of scientific discussions because it has been significantly understudied," said researcher Dr. Narjust Florez (Duma), associate director for the Cancer Care Equity Program at D...

Could cannabis end up being a gateway drug for cigarettes?

Possibly, said researchers from Columbia University, who found that adults who use pot daily do not perceive smoking a pack a day as being as harmful as those who do not use pot do.

"In the context of rec...

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, but doctors have had access to a screening tool for nearly a decade that can catch it for early treatment.

Unfortunately, neither of those facts has sunk in for many Americans, according to a new survey from the American Lung Association (ALA).

Only 29% of Americans know that