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Good thing you stopped. But your lungs haven’t forgotten that you smoked. The level of your risk depends on how much you smoked and for how long. And you’ll also need this calculation if you’re wondering whether you should be checked regularly for lung cancer.
Your total smoke amount is calculated in “pack-years,” which is the number of packs you smoked per day multiplied by the number of years you smoked. For example, all of the following examples correspond to 20 pack years:
- Half a pack of cigarettes a day for 40 years.
- One pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years.
- Two packs of cigarettes a day for 10 years.
Of course, life is rarely that simple, which is why calculating pack years can sometimes be difficult. Maybe you quit smoking a long time ago, or you’ve increased (or decreased) the number of cigarettes you smoke per day over the years.
Who should be screened for lung cancer?
If you are diagnosed with cancer, screening for lung cancer is recommended all three meets the following criteria:
- You are 50 to 80 years old.
- You have smoked the equivalent of 20 or more pack years.
- They stopped less than 15 years ago.
If the worst comes to the worst Numbers for former smokers compare with that Numbers for (heavy) smokersthen the incidence of lung cancer was in people who:
- Smoke: 12.5 cases per 1,000 participants;
- stopped for less than 5 years were: decrease of 36%;
- stopped between 5 and 10 years were: decrease of 32%;
- stopped between 10 and 15 years were: decrease by 60%;
- stopped between the ages of 15 and 25 were: decrease of 72%;
- Retired for 25 years or more were: decrease of 81%.
Bron(nen): Cleveland Clinic Health Sciences
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