Survey: 12% of Americans Blame Lung Cancer Patients for Diagnosis

Written by Karen Selby, RN • Edited By Walter Pacheco

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12% of Americans Blame Lung Cancer Patients for Their Disease

The Mesothelioma Center surveyed 1,000 Americans and found that 12% blame lung cancer patients for developing cancer.

Perceptions changed as we introduced qualifiers for the cause of the lung cancer cases. The amount of respondents who blamed patients for their lung cancer if they smoked increased to 58%, while the amount for nonsmokers remained relatively low.

The stigma associated with smoking and lung cancer causes people to develop assumptions about who or what to blame when it comes to a diagnosis.

A person may not know whether a lung cancer patient has a smoking history, so jumping to conclusions just perpetuates the stigma.

How Addiction Makes Quitting an Enormous Task

Nearly half of respondents believe those who smoked and developed lung cancer should have changed their habits in order to avoid illness.

The link between smoking and lung cancer has been scientifically established. We now know avoiding tobacco significantly lowers your risk of developing lung cancer.

But once a smoking habit is formed, it’s very difficult to break. While people may know that avoiding tobacco is a healthier lifestyle choice, quitting smoking is an enormous task to achieve.

In fact, research suggests nicotine can be as addictive as alcohol, cocaine and even heroin.

Anyone can become addicted to nicotine, but for those who struggle with depression or mental illness, illegal substance abuse and negative influences from family or peers have a much higher chance of addiction.

Nicotine dependency often begins at an early age, and the user isn’t thinking about long-term health consequences.

A study from the Surgeon General’s Report shows that two out of three high school smokers will continue smoking into adulthood, and one of the two will die of tobacco-related illness. Avoiding tobacco — especially at an early age — is an important choice you can make for optimal lung health.

Lung Cancer Risk Factors Encompass More Than Tobacco Use

While avoiding tobacco does help lower your risk of lung cancer, it doesn’t put you in the clear.

Most people directly associate lung cancer with smoking. However, there are other factors that contribute to lung cancer risk.

Many of these nonsmoking factors, such as genes and circumstantial exposure, are unavoidable. The lack of awareness around these other causes of lung cancer has led to a general stigmatization of lung cancer patients overall.

Asbestos and Lung Cancer

Asbestos cancers, including asbestos-related lung cancer and mesothelioma, are caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers, which damage lung cells.

A person can come into contact with asbestos in a number of ways. People who worked in shipyards, construction sites and factories may be at especially high risk for asbestos exposure. Military personnel are also at risk because of the high use of asbestos-contaminated materials by all branches of the U.S. military.

Lung cancer is a difficult disease, and stigmatizing those affected by it does nothing to help. As a society, we can better learn about the causes of lung cancer, ways to prevent it and the potential risk factors in an effort to stay ahead.

If you suspect that you or a loved one have been exposed to any risk factors, such as cigarette smoking, secondhand smoke, asbestos or any other known carcinogens, visit your primary care physician for a screening right away. The best defense against cancer is catching it early.

Methodology:
This study consisted of four survey questions conducted using Google Surveys. The sample consisted of no less than 1,000 completed responses per question. Post-stratification weighting has been applied to ensure an accurate and reliable representation of the total population. The surveys ran during December 2019 and January 2020.