QUALITIES OF LIFE: RESPIRATORY CANCER INCREASES

The increase in respiratory cancer victims in Cape Girardeau is not a cause for alarm, local physicians said.

The 1998 Chamber of Commerce Quality of Life Report indicates that the number of deaths due to respiratory cancers went from 37 in 1995 to 49 in 1996.

Cape Girardeau doctor of oncology and hematology, Benjamin Yuen said the numbers in Cape Girardeau do not mean that there is a trend that the number of people dying from lung cancer is on the rise.

He said the number is such a small sampling that it is difficult to look for trends. And Khalid Kahn, a doctor of pulmonary medicine in Cape Girardeau, said many of the fatalities associated with lung cancers are older people who have been smoking a long time.

"Most of the deaths are people in their sixth or seventh decade of life," Khan said. "They started smoking before a lot of the health information came out."

But both Khan and Yuen said the number of lung cancer cases, though, is growing among women.

"This, 'you've come a long way baby,' has made an impact," Yuen said. "In the younger generation of women, there are a lot of smokers."

But just because the numbers may not mean that there is a big problem in Cape Girardeau, both Yuen and Khan said there is some danger because so many people continue to smoke.

Ruth McDonnell, director of the Heart Institute at St. Francis Medical Center, said in moving to the area from Arizona, she noticed there are still many smokers in the Southeast Missouri area.

"The first thing that impressed me about Southeast Missouri was the number of people who smoked," she said.

Khan said it is part of the aging process to see some deterioration in the lungs. Exercise and good diet can make the circulatory system more efficient, but it won't reverse the aging process in the lungs. He said people who smoke add to that aging process and their lung capabilities deteriorate faster.

And even people who quit smoking still have a higher risk of lung cancer even after 15 years of not smoking, Yuen said. He said the risks are real and it is difficult to tell if the smoking message has affected the younger generation. He said the number of lung cancer cases among males in their 40s seems to be going down.

"We were educated by the time we were 20 not to smoke," he said.

But only time will tell to what extent the message sunk in.

Khan said there is a real danger among teenagers because it does not take much to begin smoking and they don't perceive the risks.

"With teenagers, there is this feeling of immortality --- that nothing can hurt you," Khan said.

He said it is easy to turn a few laughs into a deadly habit.

"It starts as a joke," he said. "But cigarettes are so addictive. After 10 to 20 cigarettes, you are addicted."