Lung cancer

Abstract

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States and throughout the world.1 In the United States, the manufactured cigarette emerged as the tobacco product of choice shortly after the turn of the 20th century. Lung cancer surfaced after years of inhalation of cigarette smoke, first among men and then among women. From 1995 to 1999, cigarette smoking and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) accounted for approximately 160,000 annual deaths in the United States. Each year, 127,813 Americans die from smoking-attributable lung cancer deaths. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.