New research has shed light on the surprising risk of lung cancer among Asian women who have never smoked—a group almost entirely excluded from current screening guidelines. The Female Asian Nonsmoker Screening Study (FANSS) found that 1.3 out of every 1,000 Asian women with no smoking history were detected with lung cancer. Dr. Elaine Shum of NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center noted, “As a thoracic medical oncologist in New York City, we have a fair amount of Asian patients, and unfortunately, the majority of them with lung cancer have no smoking history and were initially presenting with stage IV disease.”
The FANSS trial enrolled over 1,000 Asian women ages 40 to 74. Most participants were Chinese, and nearly 85% fell into this group. Dr. Shum explained, “Previous research has shown that 57% of Asian American women who have lung cancer have never smoked compared with about 15% of all other American women.” She emphasized that the reasons for this high incidence remain unknown, “It is not simply a question of heredity, but there is another genetic component to this story that is not yet well-defined.”
Among the women with detected lung cancers, all had so-called “driver mutations” common among never-smokers, especially EGFR mutations. The study calls attention to a critical disparity—risk factors for minority groups not recognized in national screening standards. “We are excited to expand this concept to other nonsmoking populations,” Dr. Shum affirmed, pointing to the urgent need for guidelines inclusive of these overlooked groups.
See: “Lung Cancer Detected in 1.3 of Asian Women Nonsmokers” (September 17, 2025)
