Kathy Griffin’s Lung Cancer Announcement Is an Important Message to Nonsmokers

• As many as 20 percent of lung cancer cases in the United States are diagnosed in nonsmokers.
• Experts say comedian Kathy Griffin’s announcement that she has lung cancer could help drive home the message to nonsmokers to watch for symptoms and get screened.
• Experts note that diagnostics and treatments for all stages of lung cancer have seen great improvement in recent years.

Comedian Kathy Griffin’s social media announcement that she – a nonsmoker – has been diagnosed with lung cancer may, doctors say, save lives.

That’s because though the public tends to link the risk of lung cancer to smoking, medical experts have long known that nonsmokers, particularly women, are at risk for lung cancer as well.

“Kathy Griffin is a hero in our minds,” Dr. Ravi Salgia, chair of the medical oncology department at City of Hope National Medical Center in California, told Healthline.

“To be able to really reflect on her cancer and share that? She won’t just bring more awareness, she’ll bring more funding for research,” he said.

It’s estimated that 10 to 20 percent of lung cancer cases in the United States are people who have never smoked or have smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime.

The disease is diagnosed in nonsmoking men and women, but it occurs at a higher rate for women, studies have shown.

Dr. Jacob Sands, an oncologist at the Dana Farber Cancer Center in Boston, said that though the reasons female nonsmokers are diagnosed at a higher rate still aren’t clear, the fact is nothing new.

“There’s a common saying in oncology that everybody with lungs has some risk of getting lung cancer,” he told Healthline.

“Although smoking does substantially increase the risk of lung cancer along with other health problems, lung cancer can happen to anybody. This has been known for many years,” Sands said.