A quiet but deadly health crisis is unfolding among Asian American women who have never smoked. Lung cancer, typically associated with tobacco use, is emerging as a leading cause of death in this population—despite their lack of smoking history. At UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, researchers are sounding the alarm and expanding efforts to understand why.
“Lung cancer among never-smokers has now emerged as the single most glaring and under-studied cancer health disparity affecting Asian American women,” said Moon Chen Jr., a principal investigator in the NIH-funded Female Asian Never Smoker (FANS) study. The study, now enrolling participants in Sacramento County, is the first and largest of its kind to explore genetic, behavioral, biological, and environmental factors behind this phenomenon.
An estimated 57% of Asian American women diagnosed with lung cancer have never smoked—compared to just 15% among other women. For families like Amy Tong’s, the impact is personal. Her mother, Susan Sun Huang, died from non-smoking lung cancer last year. “To learn that my mother was part of an alarming trend…was very disturbing,” Tong said. She now volunteers to promote the study.
Researchers hope that more families will participate, helping to uncover the causes and change the trajectory of this disease. “We will never be able to change the course of this devastating disease,” Tong said, “unless more participants and their families enroll.”
See: “Study aims to understand lung cancer in non-smoking Asian American women” (May 19, 2023)
