[Socioeconomic aspects of lung cancer]

The socio-economic aspects of lung cancer are briefly considered, first, with regard to the causes conditioning its occurrence and clinical progress. Tobacco smoking, occupational exposure and air pollution are (in decreasing order of importance) the main determinants of lung cancer occurrence, which differs as between social classes. Social class also appears to be related to clinical progress of the disease. The economic consequences of lung cancer may be tentatively estimated, for a country like Switzerland, at 40 million Swiss francs per year, a sum which can be greatly reduced if a sustained collective effort at prevention is implemented.