The stunning loss of Dana Reeve at age 44 highlights lung cancer's toll on women—taking more lives than breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and uterine cancer combined. Last December, the Harvard Women's Health Watch reported that lung cancer has increasingly become a special concern for women.

• Man or woman, exposure to tobacco smoke is the most significant risk factor for lung cancer; but although fewer women than men smoke, women account for nearly half the new cases. Quit rates for women smokers are lagging behind those for men. And we know that quitting is harder for women.

• Several studies suggest that women smokers develop lung cancer earlier and with less smoke exposure than men do. Compared with men who smoke, women smokers are also more likely to develop small cell lung cancer, a form that spreads fast and has the poorest prognosis. Men tend to develop squamous cell carcinoma, which produces more symptoms and thus is easier to detect.

• Among nonsmokers, more women than men develop lung cancer — more than two-thirds of nonsmokers with lung cancer are women. Women and nonsmokers are more prone to a stealthy form of the disease, adenocarcinoma, which spreads early on to other parts of the body.

• Despite the uneven burden of disease in women, targeted agents may be used more often or earlier in women, especially nonsmokers, because they seem to respond better than men.

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For now, there are no screening techniques that have been shown to reduce lung cancer deaths, so do everything you can to keep your home, car, and work environment smoke-free. Because nonsmokers can also develop lung cancer, be alert to the symptoms of the disease — including a cough that won’t go away and worsens over time, persistent chest pain, coughing up blood, shortness of breath, recurring pneumonia or bronchitis, weight loss, and fatigue — and see a clinician if they persist. 

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