CHICAGO – Lung cancer is the principal cause of death from carcinoma in the world, but in Latin America there is a huge lack of knowledge about the subject, according to a survey released by the Novartis pharmaceutical laboratory.
The study, taken with a sample of 3,000 adults in Argentina, Colombia and Mexico, also showed that, besides the lack of awareness, a great stigma is attached to the disease.
Approximately eight out of every 10 respondents said they knew nothing, or very little, about lung cancer, an illness that kills more people than cancer of the colon, breast and prostate combined.
More than 90 percent of respondents believe that smoking is the principal risk factor for lung cancer, though researchers have found it can affect anyone including non-smokers and youths only 15 years old.
Comparing this survey with global results, Latin Americans are seen to stigmatize people with lung cancer more, while offering them a lower level of support and understanding.
Meanwhile, an international clinical trial has found that immunological therapy is more efficient than chemotherapy for treating non-microcytic, non-squamous-cell lung cancer, the commonest variety, as it increases patients’ survival by several months.
The trial, with a sample of 582 patients, compared the results of standard chemotherapy with those of the monoclonal antibody Nivolumab, which obtained a clear improvement in patient survival, from an average 9.4 months to 12.2 months.
The results were presented Friday to a press conference at the inauguration of the 51st annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology, or ASCO, in Chicago.