According to a new study, women suffering from lung cancer live longer than men, even when the disease is untreated.

"In patients with lung cancer receiving treatment, women have shown a better response to therapy, resulting in better survival rates," said Juan Wisnivesky, MD, MPH, FCCP, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY.

The conclusions of the study have led researchers to believe that lung cancer in women has a different biologic behavior and natural history than in men.

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine reviewed 18,967 cases of stage I and II non-small cell lung cancer diagnosed between 1991 and 1999 and the patients were grouped into three categories according to treatment received: surgery, radiation or chemotherapy, and untreated cases.

In treated patients, lung cancer specific 5-year survival for women was 54 percent compared with 40 percent for men and among untreated patients, women had a 21 percent decreased risk of lung cancer deaths.

"It is clear that gender plays a role in the survival rate of men and women," said W. Michael Alberts, MD, FCCP, President of the American College of Chest Physicians. "Physicians caring for patients with lung cancer should consider the inherent progression of lung cancer among men and women when deciding on a patient's course of treatment."