Who is affected by lung cancer  Lung cancer usually occurs in
older people. The average age of people who are diagnosed with
lung cancer is 70. 1  Men are more likely to develop lung cancer
than women but fewer men smoke now than in the past, so the
death rate from lung cancer for men is decreasing. The death
rate from lung cancer for women is leveling off after increasing
for several decades.2    • Black men are more likely to develop
lung cancer than men of any other racial group.   • White women
and black women are about equally likely to develop lung cancer.
The risk of dying from lung cancer is 20 times higher for women
who smoke two or more packs of cigarettes a day than for women
who do not smoke.3  If you live with a smoker, you have 2 to 3
times the risk for lung cancer compared with a person who lives
in a nonsmoking environment.4 About 25% of nonsmokers who
develop lung cancer probably get it from being exposed to
secondhand smoke.5     1. American Cancer Society (2007). What
are the key statistic