[Specific features of bronchial cancer in women]

Deaths related to lung cancer in females are now more frequent than those related to breast cancer in North America. The French situation is far from this one but starting from a very low incidence-plateau there is now a significant growing frequency and the sex-ratio is lowering. Even if smoking is, like in males, the most important cause of lung cancer, there are at least 25% of lung cancers in female for which indoor pollution, diet, previous history of respiratory diseases are important risk factors. These factors vary according to the geographical area and period. The role of environmental tobacco smoke exposure is now quite certain in female non-smokers. Distribution of histological subtypes differs considerably with a large predominance of adenocarcinoma in females and more small-cell lung carcinomas in smokers. Female sex appears to be an independent favourable prognostic factor. All these female-male differences in patients with lung cancer suggest that lung cancer in females is a somewhat different entity from lung cancer in males.