"Fellow gynaecologists, help your patients stop smoking!".
BACKGROUND
Age-adjusted mortality from lung cancer in American women has increased dramatically and has even exceeded breast cancer mortality. Gynaecologists, are often involved as primary actors in prevention strategies but may not be aware of this epidemic. This is especially true in Europe where, lung cancer mortality for women is three times lower than in the US.


OBJECTIVE
We aimed to investigate whether smoking data could explain the lower death rates found in Europe.


METHODS
Analysis of smoking and mortality data in different European countries.


RESULTS
European lung cancer mortality data shows a huge heterogeneity between countries (ranging from as low as 5/100,000 to 37/100,000). A strong correlation exists between the smoking prevalence in different countries, in women aged 55 years and more, and the mortality rates from lung cancer (R(2)=0.8; p<0.001). Smoking prevalence of younger women is much higher today than that of women over 55 years.


CONCLUSIONS
These data strongly suggest that the epidemic of lung cancer will explode in Europe during the next decades. Gynaecologists should be aware of this and spend the necessary time to inform women adequately about the dangers of smoking and help them to quit.
Rozenberg
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S
Interdisciplinary Group on Osteoporosis, Free Universities of Brussels (VUB-ULB), St. Peter Hospital, rue Haute 322, B-1000, Brussels, Belgium. serge.rozenberg@skynet.be
Ham
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H
D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006176:Gynecology; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010821:Physicians, Family; D012907:Smoking; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology