More effective treatments and efforts to ensure early diagnosis are needed for lung cancer cases in Belgium, the Foundation against Cancer announced in a press release on Tuesday.
In Belgium, lung cancer is the deadliest form of the disease, accounting for 5,716 fatalities in 2021. It is also the second most common cancer in both men and women, with 9,410 new cases recorded in 2022, according to data from the Belgian Cancer Registry.
Ahead of World Lung Cancer Day (1 August), the organisation emphasised the low five-year survival rate of this form of cancer (29%), attributing it partly to late diagnosis. Lung cancer is often detected at stages 3 and 4, already metastasised, in 68% of men and 65% of women. While the number of new diagnoses is falling among men (-1.3%), it is on the rise in women (+3.8%).
The foundation further underscored the correlation between smoking and lung cancer, which they deem to be the "number one risk factor" of the disease. Around eight in ten lung cancer cases can be attributed to smoking, with smokers being 20 times more likely to develop this form of cancer than non-smokers, according to the foundation.
Environmental factors, such as occupational exposure to pollutants or family medical history, can also heighten the risk of developing the disease.
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Symptoms of the disease include persistent or worsening cough, breathlessness, chest pains, coughing blood, or wheezing.
In addition to supporting more screenings to detect earlier diagnoses, the foundation also backs a research project into immunotherapy treatment for cancer patients.
