Lung cancer diagnoses of UK women to outnumber men’s for first time

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The number of women diagnosed with lung cancer in the UK is expected to overtake men this year for the first time, according to projections that have prompted calls for women to be as vigilant about the disease as they are about breast cancer.

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in the UK, accounting for one in five of the total. It has one of the worst cancer survival rates, which is largely attributed to diagnoses at a late stage, when treatment is less likely to be effective.