Health Promotion and Disease Prevention: Lung Cancer Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of lung cancer, addressing its prominent aspects, current statistical data, and associated health disparities. It explores various prevention strategies, including complementary and alternative health therapies, and examines contemporary research and clinical studies related to the disease. The report also delves into the pathophysiologic effects of stress on lung cancer patients and investigates evidence-based stress management interventions that can aid in prevention and treatment. The analysis incorporates scholarly sources, adhering to APA formatting guidelines, to offer a well-rounded understanding of lung cancer from a health promotion and disease prevention perspective. The report covers key areas such as smoking cessation, screening methods, and the impact of environmental factors, along with the latest advancements in diagnostic and therapeutic approaches including personalized and targeted therapies, immunotherapy, and improved surgical and radiation techniques. Furthermore, the report emphasizes the importance of addressing the psychological and emotional impact of the disease, highlighting the role of stress management techniques in improving patient outcomes and overall well-being.

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Prominent aspects of the disease
Cancers have become one of the major causes of death in the whole world. Among several
types of cancers, Lung cancer has become one of the deadliest of them. In this disease certain
lung’s cell multiply uncontrollably and becomes abnormal to develop as a tumor (National
Lung Screening Trial Research Team, 2011). This cancer might show symptoms or signs in
the starting phase and may start with a pain in the pain in the chest, frequent coughing,
problems related to breathing, trouble in speaking or swallowing, blood in mucus, loss of
weight, loss of appetite, selling in the face or neck or fatigue. This Cancer is more in the case
of adults in the age of 60’s or 70’s. Small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer are
the two forms of lung cancer. Non-small cell lung cancer accounts for the major part of the
lung cancer i.e. 85% of it (NIH, 2019).
Current data and statistics
This disease was identified in 1.8 million people leading to death of 1.6 million people in the
year 2012. It is highly usual cancer that causes death among men while second most usual in
the case of women after breast cancer. After a decade of efforts the downfall in the death
numbers was seen in years 2016. The rate is approx. 30% higher (Lung.org, 2019). The lung
cancer survival rate is lower than many other leading sites for cancer i.e. only 18.6%.

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Health disparities associated with disease
Most of the people who developed this disease had the smoking habits. Black men and
women are more prone to this disease than any other ethnic groups. Men are more vulnerable
to this disease when compared with others. Smoking, genes, social factors and environment
create these disparities (Rizvi, Hellmann, Snyder, Kvistborg, Makarov, Havel., ... & Miller,
2015).
Prevention strategies
There are different prevention strategies that can be used by the people as their prevention
strategies. Prevention strategies include:
Quit smoking and get lungs screened on time.
Checking your home for Radon can prevent an individual from lung cancers if they are non-
smokers. People need to check family history and HIV infection as a part of the strategy
(ODPHP, 2019). Always use health masks while working at hazardous place that may give
exposure to harmful gases such as Chromium, Asbestos, Arsenic, Cadmium, Nickel etc. Air
pollution is also the cause for lung cancer.
Contemporary research related to disease
There are large numbers of researches going on against the lung cancer. A huge amount of
investments is done in this regards. There are many diagnostic and treatment options that are
under trail. This includes personalised drug therapy where they are finding whether any
specific drug could be effective for that tumor or not. This is done by taking samples.
Another effective therapy in this regards is the targeted therapy where researchers are looking
at gene and changes in protein that could be new targets for the consumers (National Cancer
Institute, 2019). It involves changes named RET translocation, NTRK translocation, HER-2
mutation and met exon 14 skipping mutation. Another research is going in the field of
immunotherapy where multiple approvals of multiple types of immunology are leading to
more research on utilising these types of drugs to assist the immune system control NSCLC
growth.
Apart from this, there are development of better techniques for radiation therapy and surgery
such as video assisted thoracoscopic surgery where surgery is done with the help of smaller
openings in the chest. Improved screening techniques such as tests called circulating tumor

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DNA tests and are also known by the name liquid biopsy (Centers for disease control and
prevention, 2019). Researches are going on in terms of the stopping people from using
tobacco by finding better options for quitting nicotine. Clinical trials are also going on in the
areas like reducing the side effects and symptoms of current lung cancer treatment going on.
Pathophysiologic effects of stress related to lung cancer
Pathophysiology is the study of the disordered physiological processes that cause, results
from, or are otherwise linked with disease or any kind of injury. Every kind of cancer has a
pathophysiologic effect of stress. Since the percentage of people that die with this disease is
higher hence people often goes in higher stress if they get diagnosed with lung cancer. People
often started to remain annoyed. At the same time they are also annoyed with their condition
and remains in a state where they feel fatigue (Mayo Clinic, 2019). Due to stress they often
don’t feel to eat anything. Since lung cancer also builds economic burden around the person
hence they starts overthinking about the family economic burden which again is reflected
through their behaviour change. This stress has impact on different organs especially heart.
They often generate cardiovascular disease such as high blood pressure. Chronic stress also
leads to other types of internal health issues such as poor performance of immune system. It
is leading to behavioural and cognitive disorders. There will be malfunctioning of different
organs such as pancreases and other hormone secreting glands. This result negatively towards
therapy which is not good for curing the disease as internal functions might not work
according to the desired way in which therapist will want to and it becomes difficult to cure
the disease (American Cancer Society, 2019).
Evidence based stress management
Stress management plays a very critical role in curing the disease hence it would be effective
for the therapist and the people diagnosed with this disease to adopt stress management
techniques (SMT) so as to minimise the stress. SMT such as participating in social events,
taking the help of medical staffs, socialising with the help of friends, playing games and
enjoying with the help of other types of activities are some of the external approach that can
be given to reduce the stress. Apart from this, there must be use of motivational lectures from
the people who have fought cancers. In this utilising electronic mediums can be effective
(American Cancer Society, 2019). This can also be done with the help of motivational books
written by the people who have suffered different kinds of Cancer. This helps the person to

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not only remove their stress but also allows them to look at their condition in an appropriate
manner and hence encouraging them for self-care.

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Referencing
American Cancer Society, (2019) Key Statistics for Lung Cancer. Retrieved from:
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/non-small-cell-lung-cancer/about/key-statistics.html
American Cancer Society, (2019) Lung Cancer. Retrieved from:
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/lung-cancer.html
Centers for disease control and prevention, (2019) How Is Lung Cancer Diagnosed and
Treated?. Retrieved from:
https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/lung/basic_info/diagnosis_treatment.htm
Lung.org, (2019) Lung Cancer Fact Sheet. Retrieved from: https://www.lung.org/lung-health-
and-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/lung-cancer/resource-library/lung-cancer-fact-
sheet.html
Mayo Clinic, (2019) Lung Cancer. Retrieved from: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-
conditions/lung-cancer/symptoms-causes/syc-20374620
National Cancer Institute, (2019) Lung Cancer Prevention (PDQ®)–Patient Version.
Retrieved from: https://www.cancer.gov/types/lung/patient/lung-prevention-pdq
National Lung Screening Trial Research Team. (2011). Reduced lung-cancer mortality with
low-dose computed tomographic screening. New England Journal of
Medicine, 365(5), 395-409.
NIH, (2019) Lung Cancer. Retrieved from: https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/lung-cancer
ODPHP, (2019) Healthy People.gov. Retrieved from:
https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/data/disparities/summary/chart/4061/4
Rizvi, N. A., Hellmann, M. D., Snyder, A., Kvistborg, P., Makarov, V., Havel, J. J., ... &
Miller, M. L. (2015) Mutational landscape determines sensitivity to PD-1 blockade in
non–small cell lung cancer. Science, 348(6230), 124-128.