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Reproductive Health
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- Increase in breastfeeding
- Increasing women's lifespan
- Policy of inclusion of women in clinical trials
- Improvements in breast cancer screening
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- Decrease in breast cancer deaths
- Decrease in smoking rates for women
- Decrease in teen pregnancy
- Cervical cancer prevention and screening
- Decrease in HIV/AIDS deaths in women
- Federal funding to address violence against women
- Decrease in lung cancer deaths in women
- Mother-to-child transmission of HIV decreased
- Decrease in deaths from women's leading killer – heart disease
- Making birth control better, safer, and more accessible for women
- Creation of Offices on Women's Health at the federal level
- Cancer and Steroid Hormone (CASH) study
- Approval of emergency contraception
- Building better osteoporosis treatments
- Efforts to improve pregnant women's health and outcomes
- Dangerous drugs and devices for women removed from market
- Improvements in support to caregivers
- Improvements in older women's health
- Largest women's health prevention study ever – Women's Health Initiative
- FDA helps women and families meet their nutritional needs
- Addressing sex differences in health
- Addressing minority women's health
- Recognizing the needs of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women
- Creation of women's health information resources
- Affordable Care Act improves women's health
- 30 Achievements in Women's Health in 30 Years (1984 – 2014)
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- 30 Achievements in Women's Health in 30 Years (1984 – 2014)
- Decrease in lung cancer deaths in women
- CDC, Lung Cancer
- CDC, Leading Causes of Death in Females United States, 2010 (current listing)
- NIH, NCI, A Snapshot of Lung Cancer
- CDC, Cancer Mortality Trends Among Women by Race/Ethnicity
- CDC, Lung Cancer Incidence Trends Among Men and Women — United States, 2005–2009
- NIH, NCI, Lung Cancer Treatment
- NIH, NCI, Lung Cancer Incidence Rates High Among Women Who Have Never Smoked
- Chlebowski, RT, et al. (2009). Oestrogen plus progestin and lung cancer in postmenopausal women (Women's Health Initiative trial): a post-hoc analysis of a randomised controlled trial. Lancet; 374(9697): 1243-51.
- NIH, NCI Fast Stats
- Scaglia, NC, et al (2013). Role of gender in the survival of surgical patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer. Ann Thorac Med; 8(3): 142-147.
- Marquez-Garban, DC, et al. (2009). Targeting Aromatase and Estrogen Signaling in Human Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Ann N Y Acad Sci; 1155: 194-205.
- CDC, Rates of new lung cancer cases drop in U.S. men and women
- USPSTF, Screening for Lung Cancer
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30 Achievements in Women's Health in 30 Years (1984 – 2014)
Call the OWH HELPLINE: 1-800-994-9662
9 a.m. — 6 p.m. ET, Monday — Friday
OWH and the OWH helpline do not see patients and are unable to: diagnose your medical condition; provide treatment; prescribe medication; or refer you to specialists. The OWH helpline is a resource line. The OWH helpline does not provide medical advice.
Please call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room if you are experiencing a medical emergency.Decrease in lung cancer deaths in women
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women1, and the second-leading cause of death after heart disease.2,3 But the good news is that lung cancer deaths in women continue to decline each year4, thanks in part to federal programs to help women quit smoking and federally funded research leading to improved treatments, scientific understanding, and public health policies.5,6
Smoking is the leading risk factor for lung cancer, yet 1 in 5 women diagnosed with lung cancer have never smoked. Women are more likely than men to develop non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a type of lung cancer that is most commonly found in non-smokers.7 The hormone estrogen may play a role. A 2009 report from the Women's Health Initiative found that hormone therapy increased the risk of dying from lung cancer in post-menopausal women.8 However, women of all ages are more likely to survive longer with lung cancer than men.9 Women who have surgery for certain types of lung cancer, including NSCLC, also have better survival rates than men.10 They also respond better to some of the chemotherapy medications used for lung cancer.11
Lung cancer death rates in women decreased each year from 2004 to 2010 because of advances in treatments and successful smoking cessation programs.12 The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recently recommended lung cancer screening for high risk individuals.13 This may allow for the identification of lung cancer in its early stages when it is most treatable.
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All material contained on these pages are free of copyright restrictions and may be copied, reproduced, or duplicated without permission of the Office on Women’s Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Citation of the source is appreciated.
Page last updated: April 01, 2019.
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A federal government website managed by the Office on Women's Health in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20201
1-800-994-9662 • Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET (closed on federal holidays).
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