Detecting Lung Cancer Blog

In past posts, we’ve talked about the stigma attached to lung cancer patients. We’ve even featured the story of Gary, a lung cancer survivor who experienced the stigma first hand. Now, we feature a recent study that highlights the stigma even further. According to a recent study at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, a sense of rejection, shame and isolation can heighten depression in those who have lung cancer.

Psychcentral.com shared a piece about the recent study, which we have highlighted parts of below. To read the full article, click here.

Since there is no widely recognized method of early lung cancer detection, unlike PSA for prostate cancer or mammography for breast cancer, 85% of lung cancer is found symptomatically.

Unfortunately, by the time symptoms are apparent and properly diagnosed, the lung cancer tends to be in an advanced stage—that is one of the reasons why the 5 year survival rate is only 15%, with nearly half of newly diagnosed patients not surviving the first year.

Because of these staggering statistics, we recently posted a blog, as well as a full page about the top 10 lung cancer symptoms—but we felt that alone wasn’t enough.

In past blogs, we’ve discussed various non-smoking related lung cancer risk factors, including exposure to carcinogens, reactive chemicals and arsenic. What happens, however, when those risk factors become part of your everyday life? What do you do when you encounter those lung disease risk factors at work?

According to this CBS News article, nearly 23,000 workers develop job-related lung disease per year, and more than 16,000 people die from it each year.

Pulling from a list featured on Health.com, here are 10 fields that can be risky for your lung health: