Lung cancer trends in Scotland

Lung cancer incidence rates in Scotland are among the highest in the world, reflecting the country’s history of high smoking prevalence. Scotland is the only nation in the UK where lung cancer remains the most common cancer when males and females are combined together.

Rates are particularly high in Greater Glasgow & Clyde NHS Board, where rates are almost a third higher than the average for Scotland. Although lower than Greater Glasgow & Clyde, the lung cancer incidence rate in Lothian is also higher than the Scotland average. These areas are the densely populated belt from Glasgow in the west to Edinburgh in the east, reflecting the higher rates in urban rather than rural areas, mainly as a result of higher smoking prevalence in urban areas. For example, smoking prevalence in Greater Glasgow & Clyde in 2003-2004 was 30%, which is the highest of all the Scottish NHS boards. The substantial proportions of the male workforce along the River Clyde employed in the shipbuilding industry, where asbestos was widely used in the 1930s-1960s, may also have contributed to the higher lung cancer incidence in Glasgow.
From Cancer Research UK lung cancer incidence statistics April 2012
[Accessed 17 April 2012]

Source: Information Services Division of NHS Scotland: Cancer in Scotland summary October 2011. [accessed 01 November 2011]

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