Teens and young adults are rarely diagnosed with lung cancer, however, this doesn't mean they shouldn't worry about it. Lung cancer diagnoses are mostly smoking-related, and nine out of ten smokers started smoking while they were teenagers. According to a recently published study by the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center at UC Irvine, teens are also more susceptible to cigarette addiction than adults are.
Lung cancer is very difficult to diagnose. Some patients show symptoms such as a persistent cough, shortness of breath, chest pains and a raspy voice, but others show no symptoms. As a result, lung cancer is rarely diagnosed in its earlier stages. It can sometimes be detected by a chest x-ray or a CAT scan (images of the inside of your body are taken by a computer using x-rays), but usually more tests such as a bronchoscopy or a lung tissue biopsy are needed to be certain.
