Every 1st August, Lung Cancer Europe supports World Lung Cancer Day global awareness campaign.

It’s a day:

• To raise awareness of lung cancer stigma and its consequences around the world on the occasion of World Lung Cancer Day.
• To encourage the European lung cancer patient advocacy community to raise their voice by joining the LuCE campaign.
• To inform the general public about how stigma influences the quality of life of lung cancer patients, and reduce its impact on people.
• To mobilize efforts in support of lung cancer patients suffering from stigma.​​​​​​​

Following our “5th LuCE REPORT: Psychological and social impact on people diagnosed with lung cancer 2020“, the stigma associated with lung cancer greatly affects people impacted by this disease. More than 80% pointed out that people asked them about their smoking history when they learned about their lung cancer diagnosis.

Participants also confirmed some stigmatizing attitudes and behaviours from others, such as considering the person as responsible for getting lung cancer (reported by 30.9% of patients and 41.2% of caregivers) or judging the person negatively for having this disease (reported by 28.2% of patients; 24.0% of caregivers).

Internalised stigma is also a major issue with 66.8% of patients stating that they had thought at times that their previous behaviour had contributed to their diagnosis. 52.4% had at times felt guilty because of their diagnosis, with nearly 2 in every 10 indicating that they felt this way frequently.

Caregivers also experienced stigma and self-blame, with 37.1% acknowledging having feelings of guilt. 

Read the full report here: https://www.lungcancereurope.eu/2020/11/15/5th-edition-of-the-luce-report-psychological-and-social-impact-of-lung-cancer-2/

We look forward to many patient advocates participating in this year’s World Lung Cancer Day, supporting the #BreakTheStigma campaign!