A new study indicates that women who smoke are 2.7 times as likely to develop lung cancer as men. According to NBC Nightly News, the new study shows that women are smoking, and starting to smoke, at higher rates than men, and that their risk is significantly higher. The report predicted a possible epidemic of lung cancer among women which might be quietly spreading among new smokers and younger women.

Other studies have suggested there may be some link between the female hormone estrogen and the development of some forms of cancer, putting women at higher risk in general of developing cancer. There is no conclusive proof of this connection, and men also have estrogen present in their systems, though at lower levels than do women. As such, it has not been demonstrated to date that men are free from this particular elevated risk factor.