Asbestos is perhaps the best known of the industrial substances associated with lung cancer, but there are many cancer-causing substances that people may deal with at work. These include asbestos,uranium, arsenic, certain petroleum products, and others. In addition, it is important to realize that there are many different jobs that may involve exposure. Some examples are working with certain types of insulation, working in certain environments, such as with coke ovens, and repairing brakes. As is the case with radon, when exposure to job-related carcinogens is combined with smoking, the risk of getting lung cancer is sharply increased.
Lung cancer occurs most often in people over fifty who have long histories of cigarette smoking.
The incidence of lung cancer in women as a whole has climbed at an alarming rate, and these increases are clearly attributable to the increases in the number of women who have smoked. In 1987, lung cancer exceeded breast cancer for the first time as the major cancer cause of death in women. Unlike their male counterparts, incidence rates in both black and white women has risen substantially. Between 1984 and 1996, incidence rates increased 22 percent overall, 25.6 percent in white women and 18.9 percent in black women. That lung cancer and lung cancer deaths are occurring among some groups of Americans at rates higher than the national average, such as African-American men and women and white women, and that these increases may be largely due to preventable causes, such as smoking, has caused special concern among public health officials.