Why did lung cancer rates in women rise later than rates in men?

The rise in lung cancer rates in women occurring later than in men is attributed to differences in the historical timeline of cigarette consumption between the two groups. While men adopted heavy cigarette smoking earlier in the 20th century, women significantly increased their cigarette consumption during World War II.1

Because cigarette smoking is causally linked to the development of lung cancer, the delayed onset of widespread, heavy smoking among women resulted in a corresponding delay in the rise of lung cancer incidence, which began to climb in 1960 and continued until the mid-1990s. By the early 2000s, the lifetime risk of developing the disease had become only slightly higher in men than in women, reflecting the convergence of these long-term smoking trends.1