Shock new statistics from Cancer Research UK have revealed that the region, including Newcastle, Sunderland and Durham, saw 112.2 people out of 100,000 diagnosed with the deadly disease each year between 2012 and 2014.
But in the same time frame, just 65.9 people out of 100,000 were diagnosed with lung cancer each year in the south west, which includes Bristol, Cornwall and Plymouth – nearly half as less than in the north.
Lung cancer is one of the most common and serious types of cancer – and it’s also one of the hardest to catch early on because it usually shows no signs or symptoms in the early stages.
Although people who have never smoked can developed the disease, smoking is the main cause, accounting for over 85 per cent of cases.
Across England the average rate of lung cancer diagnosis is 79.7 per 100,000 people, with London closest to the mark at 78.4.
The second-highest region was the north west, with 101.1 people diagnosed out of 100,000 and overall the highest figure of the average number of people affected – 6,380.
43,500 people in the UK are diagnosed with the disease each year, making lung cancer the second most common type of cancer in the country.
Lung cancer is often diagnosed late because it doesn’t usually cause noticeable symptoms until it has spread through the lungs or into other parts of the body.
This means that for many people the cancer has already spread when they are diagnosed.
In general, about 1 in 3 people with the illness live for at least a year after they’re diagnosed and about 1 in 20 people live for at least 10 years.
But survival rates for lung cancer patients in the UK are 'severely lagging behind Europe', with just 16 per cent of English patients who are diagnosed with the disease alive five years after diagnosis.
Over-the-counter painkiller ibuprofen could help reduce a smoker's risk of lung cancer, according to experts.
Regularly taking the drug helps to combat inflammation that is known to trigger the deadly disease – cutting risk by up to 48 per cent.
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