Male lung cancer cases differ from female lung cancer cases in a number of ways. The risk of a female smoker developing lung cancer is greater than the risk of a male smoker. However, statistics show that more men develop lung cancer, and it is assumed that the reason is the tendency to smoke more cigarettes. Experts cannot fully explain these discrepancies, but it is believed that genetic factors and some gender differences may play an important role in the development of lung cancer. The types of lung cancer that commonly affect men also differ from those that affect women, as do the effectiveness of the therapies used to treat them. Overall, outcomes in men are generally worse, although newer targeted drugs in oncology and immunotherapies show promise in improving patients’ life expectancy. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in men worldwide. Although men have historically been at greater risk of developing the disease, the number of men and women diagnosed with lung cancer each year is slowly leveling off. For reasons that are not fully understood, men who smoke are less likely to develop the disease than women who smoke. A 2014 study reported that men who were “heavy” smokers were 50% less likely to develop the types of lung cancer associated with tobacco smoke compared to female smokers. This is also true for men who have never smoked compared to women who have never smoked. Men who have never smoked are about 33% less likely to develop lung cancer than women who have never smoked, a difference thought to be related to women’s genetic predisposition, body size and exposure to carcinogens in the home, such as radon. However, non-smoking men who develop lung cancer are at greater risk of death than women. Men are more likely to develop squamous cell lung cancer, a type of non-small cell lung cancer that develops in the airways of the lungs. It accounts for about 30% of all non-small cell lung cancer diagnoses and is directly linked to cigarette smoke. In contrast, lung adenocarcinoma, a type of non-small cell lung cancer that develops in the periphery of the lungs, predominates in women and non-smokers. Men are less likely to develop small cell lung cancer, a rarer but generally more aggressive form of the disease. However, when heavy smoking is added to the equation, the risk of these diseases can begin to level out. Men who smoke more than 30 cigarettes a day increase their risk of squamous cell lung cancer 100 times,for lung adenocarcinoma 22 times and for small cell lung cancer 111 times. A similar pattern was seen in women, where smoking more than 30 cigarettes a day increased the risk of squamous cell lung cancer 63 times, lung adenocarcinoma 17 times, and small cell lung cancer 109 times. Bibliography: Hellyer JA, Patel MI. Sex disparities in lung cancer incidence: Validation of a long-observed trend American Cancer Society. Key statistics for lung cancer Pesch B, Kendzia B, Gustavsson P, et al. Cigarette smoking and lung cancer—relative risk estimates for the major histological types from a pooled analysis of case-control studies Verywell Health. Lung Cancer in Men