India, Jan. 1 -- Lung cancer is quietly rewriting its own rulebook. Once labelled an elderly male smoker's disease, it is now increasingly affecting women under 50, many of whom have never smoked a cigarette in their lives. Across several countries, lung cancer rates in younger women now match or even exceed those in men of the same age group. This trend cannot be explained by smoking alone, and that is what makes it worrying.

According to 2025 statistics from the American Cancer Society, lung cancer among women under 65 surpassed that of men for the first time in 2021. Overall, cancer incidence among individuals aged 0 to 49 has historically been higher in females, primarily due to breast cancer. (Also read: Fitness coach shares 'why yo...