German lung cancer incidence rises in women:

The incidence of lung cancer in German women has risen dramatically in the last two decades, and while prevention following cutting out or down on tobacco has been successful in men, in women the same cannot be claimed. So says Christa Stegmaier, the head of the epidemiological cancer registry of the state of Saarland. Citing figures that are claimed to be representative for the whole of Germany, she said that lung cancer in Saarland women has risen by 173% in the last 20 years. A quarter of female lung cancer deaths were in the under-60 age bracket. Breast cancer is the leading female cancer in the state. In males, increased screening has seen prostate cancer overtake lung cancer as the leading form of the disease. Several thousand men had opted to take PSA tests under a programme organised by the Homburg Uniclinic, she said.