# Quitting Smoking Triggering Lung Cancer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 11, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294 "2007-08-11T23:39:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/41 "2011-06-07T01:40:45Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > Just thought I’d mention that this is true, but there’s the interesting exception of endometrial cancer, where smoking reduces your risk. > > [Cite](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15645490), [cite](http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/254083-clinical#a0218) The Master also had a column where he explores the benefits - it prevents colitis and I’ve read that it combats Alheimzer’s development. ETA - here’s the [column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1101/does-smoking-have-any-health-em-benefits-em) ---
**Author:** ![bobbyfisher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@bobbyfisher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobbyfisher)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/42 "2011-06-07T02:41:59Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > The primary risk factor for developing various types of lung cancer is smoking but this is based on correlation; although we know that there are some cofactors for developing lung cancer (like asbestos exposure with mesothelioma), there really isn’t a good understanding of why or how lung cancers start and why smoking aggrevates it. > > However, it’s unlikely to the point of certainty that quitting smoking triggers lung cancer. Most lung cancers develop slowly and can progress for months or years before detection. Because the lungs are so blood-rich and intimately tied in with the circulatory system, lung cancer often metastasizes before discovery. Peter Jennings credited his lung cancer from resuming cigarette smoking after September 11, 2001, but there’s a good chance that the cancer was already developing (though starting to smoke again probably didn’t help any, and may have masked symptoms). > > **Lung cancer due to smoking starts showing up about 20 years after starting to smoke and onward…which is about the same time (late thirties or early forties) when many people start quitting smoking.** This will tend to create a bias of people incidentially developing cancer at the same time they quit, and in fact there’s a very good correlation between when mass produced cigarettes (with added products to preserve the tobacco and enhance nicotine delivery) became available and a pronounced rise in the incidence of lung cancer with a 20 year lag, and as people smoked more cigarettes per year (due in part to filtration and smoother, low tar tobacco) the cancer rate increases. > > Note that cancer from smoking untreated tobacco (unprocessed pipe and cigar tobacco, natural cigarettes) tends to be substantially lower than commerical cigarettes. Speculation for this includes that people smoke less, or don’t inhale as much or as long, or don’t smoke as often, but dollars to donuts that a lot of it has to do with chemicals added to tobacoo used in mass produced cigarettes during processing, many of which are known carceneogens. > > Your mother’s friend’s doctor is on crack if that’s what he told her. While their are ignorant, Frank Burns-ish physicians out there, I’m going to guess that the tale was somewhat mangled in the telling somewhere between the doctor and your mum, however. > > Stranger Come on thats bullshit no it dont, its rare to get lung cancer in your 30s and 40s, The percentage of lung cancers that are diagnosed at each age is as follows (for example, for every 100 cases of lung cancer, 20 of them will be diagnosed in people age 55 to 64): Age 20 to 34 – 0.2% Age 35 to 44 – 1.7% Age 45 to 54 – 8.8% Age 55 to 64 – 20.0% Age 65 to 74 – 31.3% Age 75 to 84 – 29.1% Age 85 and older – 8% [http://lungcancer.about.com/od/lungcancerfacts/f/What-Is-The-Average-Age-For-Lung-Cancer.htm](http://lungcancer.about.com/od/lungcancerfacts/f/What-Is-The-Average-Age-For-Lung-Cancer.htm) ---
**Author:** ![bobbyfisher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@bobbyfisher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobbyfisher)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/43 "2011-06-07T02:51:13Z")
> [@Sateryn76](#): > > The Master also had a column where he explores the benefits - it prevents colitis and I’ve read that it combats Alheimzer’s development. > > ETA - here’s the [column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1101/does-smoking-have-any-health-em-benefits-em) My brother suffers from a bowl disease similar to chrome’s disease and the doctor told him smokers dont get the disease. But i dont know how much i believe of that, smoking is bad but its an accumulation, most things are bad for you if you take them too much for too long like drinking or fatty food, i bet if you did a test on two kids at 14 years old, and started one on 20 fags a day for 40 years and the other 14 year old kid on big macs and fries every day for 40 years both are gonna have equally bad health problems. Maybe the government should put pictures of dead fat corpses on big mac meals like they put corpses on fag packets. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/44 "2011-06-07T03:50:24Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > \ > This is also why it is so critical for people to understand that you don’t get to smoke risk-free from age 15 to 30, and then quit. You may have a cancer that started when you were 20 and shows up at age 40 even if you quit at age 25. The last three lung cancers I diagnosed on presentation to my Emergency Department were 10, 12, and 15 years out from when the patients had quit smoking. > \ Does this mean that smokers and ex-smokers should be getting annual chest x-rays to look for cancer? ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/45 "2011-06-07T03:59:45Z")
> [@bobbyfisher](#): > > My brother suffers from a bowl disease similar to chrome’s disease and the doctor told him smokers dont get the disease. But i dont know how much i believe of that, > smoking is bad but its an accumulation, most things are bad for you if you take them too much for too long like drinking or fatty food, i bet if you did a test on two kids at 14 years old, and started one on 20 fags a day for 40 years and the other 14 year old kid on big macs and fries every day for 40 years both are gonna have equally bad health problems. Maybe the government should put pictures of dead fat corpses on big mac meals like they put corpses on fag packets. It’s not a binary choice though, so what’s your point? And smoking in moderation is harmful, while fast food in moderation isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/46 "2011-06-07T04:04:38Z")
> [@Imasquare](#): > > Does this mean that smokers and ex-smokers should be getting annual chest x-rays to look for cancer? X-rays aren’t especially good at spotting early ling cancers. CT scans are the gold standard, but it’s unclear whether screening would be beneficial. > **[Lung cancer screening](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung_cancer_screening)** > > Lung cancer screening refers to cancer screening strategies used to identify early lung cancers before they cause symptoms, at a point where they are more likely to be curable. Lung cancer screening is critically important because of the incidence and prevalence of lung cancer. More than 235,000 new cases of lung cancer are expected in the United States in 2021 with approximately 130,000 deaths expected in 2021. In addition, at the time of diagnosis, 57% of lung cancers are discovered in advan... ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/47 "2011-06-07T04:32:35Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > Not the devil’s advocate-- RJ Reynolds’ advocate. 😃 > > Great question…and you are right to a large extent. > > There is much less point in stopping smoking after about 60, except perhaps to make chronic lung disease more manageable (and maybe to slow down its progression since chronic lung disease is sort of a dose-related progression). This is a rogue position with respect to what most doctors will tell you, and worth what you are paying for it (less the $15 fee for SDMB membership) but if someone wants to argue it, ask 'em for data. > > For cancer and heart disease, though, quitting after 60 or so only returns a few years of life. This has not been extensively studied, but there was a study in the British Medical Journal a few years ago that was fairly well done: > > “Cessation at age 60, 50, 40, or 30 years gained, respectively, about 3, 6, 9, or 10 years of life expectancy” [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/bmj.38142.554479.AEv1](http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/bmj.38142.554479.AEv1) > > It’s also probably just fine to start smoking around 55 or so, for the same reason. 😉 Back when I was an Internist I never bothered my elderly smokers about their habit. Of course I swapped specialties which should tell you something. ``` What about emphysema? ``` ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/48 "2011-06-07T04:34:34Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > X-rays aren’t especially good at spotting early l **u** ng cancers. CT scans are the gold standard, but it’s unclear whether screening would be beneficial. > > [Lung cancer screening - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung_cancer_screening) Oops. Not sure what a ling cancer is. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/49 "2011-06-07T04:42:49Z")
> [@user\_hostile](#): > > The way it was pitch to me about the dangers of smoking was that the odds of coming down with lung cancer were relatively small, as were all the other diseases associated with them. Where the danger comes in, however, is the odds do add together. The result is that you are more likely than not to come down with some detrimental illness that reduces your potential life span. If smoking were the _only_ result in lung cancer, it is unlikely it would be so high on the public health radar. But the correlation between smoking and disease demonstrate that it is, indeed, hazardous to your health. > > Are the above assumptions correct? I can’t answer that definitively, I’m repeating the information available from a highly researched area of health. There’s a lot of anti-smoking propoganda that seems pointless to me because the facts paint a grim portrait already. Smoking reduces everyone’s life span. > [@Sateryn76](#): > > It is my understanding that recent research on many cancers have pointed to the involvement of viruses. This goes back to the “Boy in the Bubble” case in the 70s, and has paid dividends recently with the development of the Gardisil vaccine. > > It is theorized that smoking damages the lungs to the extent that an average bronchial virus can get a toehold that a non-smoker can fight off, and after many years, the viral mutation develops into a cancer. > > This can also explain why the rates of smoking v. lung cancer vary so much - if you do not come into contact with the correct viruses, or are able to fight it off, the virus is defeated like any other infection. I saw some of this. But it is recent. Clearly the damage done from smoking leaves people susceptible to other diseases. > [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > Just thought I’d mention that this is true, but there’s the interesting exception of endometrial cancer, where smoking reduces your risk. > > [Cite](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15645490), [cite](http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/254083-clinical#a0218) Reduces your risk of developing one form of cancer, and increases your chance of developing all sort of other diseases. > [@Sateryn76](#): > > The Master also had a column where he explores the benefits - it prevents colitis and I’ve read that it combats Alheimzer’s development. > > ETA - here’s the [column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1101/does-smoking-have-any-health-em-benefits-em) Yes, and smoking also makes you cool. But there’s still a price to pay in the end. > [@The Master](#): > > At least one scientist thinks smokers are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s mainly because they die of smoking-related diseases first. This could apply to all sorts of diseases. If a cure for lung cancer is discovered, all those smokers who no longer die from lung cancer will die from heart or lung disease, or other cancers, or organ failures. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/50 "2011-06-07T13:56:29Z")
> [@bobbyfisher](#): > > Come on thats bullshit no it dont, its rare to get lung cancer in your 30s and 40s, Are you terminally dense, or just as incapable of reading comprehension as you are of grammar and punctuation? Read the statement again and look at the numbers you quoted. Lung cancer starts to show up in statical quantities from the late thirties onward, increasing as time proceeds, such that by the time most people elect to stop smoking lung and other smoking-correlated cancers are already showing up in a coincident age band. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![bobbyfisher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@bobbyfisher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobbyfisher)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/51 "2011-06-07T19:30:07Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > It’s not a binary choice though, so what’s your point? And smoking in moderation is harmful, while fast food in moderation isn’t. Where’s the proof. I bet you’re one of these nut jobs that wants smoking banned from parks even though you get thousands of buses and cars driving passed the park every day. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/52 "2011-06-07T19:41:35Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > It’s not a binary choice though, so what’s your point? And smoking in moderation is harmful, while fast food in moderation isn’t. Smoking in moderation is not particularly more harmful than anything else done in moderation that has the potential to be unhealthy from less moderate practice. But the more addictive a substance is, the less moderation is likely to be practiced. And nicotine is highly addictive. So comparing it to fast food is pointless. And the effect of nicotine addiction makes it an almost binary choice in reality. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/53 "2011-06-07T20:25:44Z")
> [@bobbyfisher](#): > > Where’s the proof. I bet you’re one of these nut jobs that wants smoking banned from parks even though you get thousands of buses and cars driving passed the park every day. I thought the main reasons for banning smoking in parks came down to ecology (litter, fire hazard), not so much the health of the park-goers. Not all smokers litter, obviously, and I would assume that very few cause fires, but the litter alone is a big enough issue to explain why it would be a concern to park boards. That anti-smokers support these bans for health reasons or any other reasons—just icing on the cake. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/54 "2011-06-07T20:31:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Smoking in moderation is not particularly more harmful than anything else done in moderation that has the potential to be unhealthy from less moderate practice. But the more addictive a substance is, the less moderation is likely to be practiced. And nicotine is highly addictive. So comparing it to fast food is pointless. And the effect of nicotine addiction makes it an almost binary choice in reality. That’s true for certain values of “moderation”, so I suppose my comment was unclear. Smoking a pack of cigarettes every two days will lead to increased mortality after a few decades. Eating a Big Mac every two days won’t, assuming it’s part of a balanced diet ™. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/55 "2011-06-07T20:33:08Z")
> [@bobbyfisher](#): > > I bet you’re one of these nut jobs that wants smoking banned from parks even though you get thousands of buses and cars driving passed the park every day. :rolleyes: Whatever gives you that idea? ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/56 "2011-06-07T20:42:07Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I thought the main reasons for banning smoking in parks came down to ecology (litter, fire hazard), not so much the health of the park-goers. Not all smokers litter, obviously, and I would assume that very few cause fires, but the litter alone is a big enough issue to explain why it would be a concern to park boards. That anti-smokers support these bans for health reasons or any other reasons—just icing on the cake. Well, I would have considered it load a crap that banning smoking from a public park was just plain silly. Until I went to a theme park (Six Flags?) in Virginia. It was a hot, humid, windless day with lots of smokers. Had a great time. While driving home, however, I kept noticing whiffs of tobacco smoke. I smelled my shirt and WTH? It reeked. I asked everyone else if they smelled it in their clothes. It was unanimous. Threw it the laundry basket. A few days later, doing laundry the smell was still quite distinct. I for one welcome Ban-the-Smokers-from-Public-Places Overlords. ---
**Author:** ![bobbyfisher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@bobbyfisher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobbyfisher)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/57 "2011-06-07T22:05:01Z")
I am not a smoker myself but i dont mind the smell of tobacco, surely the smell of tobacco was suppose to be quite nice wasn’t it. And thats why the Indians started smoking it. If it smelt horrible no one would of ever smoked it. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/58 "2011-06-07T22:13:24Z")
> [@bobbyfisher](#): > > Where’s the proof. I bet you’re one of these nut jobs that wants smoking banned from parks even though you get thousands of buses and cars driving passed the park every day. [mod note] This comment is out of line for GQ. I’m not issuing a warning, but you need to back off a bit. [/mod note] ---
**Author:** ![bobbyfisher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@bobbyfisher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobbyfisher)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/59 "2011-06-08T01:21:36Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:58, topic:415294”] [mod note] This comment is out of line for GQ. I’m not issuing a warning, but you need to back off a bit. [/mod note] [/QUOTE] Excuse me what is out of line, someone called me terminally dense and said i couldnt read or spell is that also out of line or is that acceptable. Or do most mods just like to pick on the new guy. You need to lighten up a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294/60 "2011-06-13T17:17:38Z")
> [@bobbyfisher](#): > > Excuse me what is out of line, someone called me terminally dense and said i couldnt read or spell is that also out of line or is that acceptable. Or do most mods just like to pick on the new guy. You need to lighten up a bit. [moderating] If you have an issue with my moderation, please take it to the “About This Message Board” forum. Do not clutter up this thread with it. The “terminally dense” comment wasn’t reported and I didn’t notice it. Otherwise, I would have reacted to that, too. As for the spelling, I think your posts speak for themselves. [/moderating] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-triggering-lung-cancer/415294.md?page=4)