Most of us know someone whose life was cut short by lung cancer. For decades it was the kind of diagnosis that left little room for hope. That picture is finally starting to change.
Lung cancer death rates fell 52% in men and 37% in women between 2004 and 2023. The findings come from the 2026 Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, released in September 2026 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and partner agencies.
The results were published in the journal Cancer. The decline tracks one habit above all else. Adult cigarette smoking in the US fell from 22.6% in 2001 to 9.9% in 2024.
About 85% of lung cancer cases and deaths are still linked to smoking. Researchers estimate that smoking reductions since 1970 have averted roughly 3.9 million lung cancer deaths in the US.
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Earlier detection has roughly doubled five-year survival
Catching the disease sooner is the other big shift. The share of lung cancers found at a localized stage, before they spread, rose sharply from 2003 to 2022, with gains of about 69% in men and 74% in women.
Five-year survival roughly doubled over the same period, climbing from around 15% in 2000 to about 30% in 2018.
Low-dose CT screening is part of why. In 2024, 18.7% of eligible US adults had been screened, up from 4.5% in 2015.
Who the gains have missed
Progress has not reached everyone equally. Lung cancer death rates were more than five times higher among people with a high school education or less than among college graduates.
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Rates were also about 40% higher in rural areas than in urban ones. Secondhand smoke exposure among nonsmokers fell from 42% in 2001 to 2002 to 24% in 2017 to 2020.
What you can do today
Quitting smoking, or never starting, cuts lung cancer risk more than any other step. Readers worried about symptoms or their own history should talk to a doctor about whether screening makes sense for them.
The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends a yearly low-dose CT scan for adults aged 50 to 80 with a long smoking history. That means at least a pack a day for 20 years, in someone who still smokes or quit within the past 15 years.
Screening uptake is still well below where health authorities want it to be. Fewer than one in five eligible US adults got a scan in 2024.
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This article is made and published by Jesper Bengtson, who may have used AI in the preparation.