Pneumonia: Can It Cause Lung Cancer?

… Continued …

The following are other common lung diseases associated with the increased risk of lung cancer:

Tuberculosis!

As the name suggests, it is an infection in the lungs caused by bacteria called mycobacterium tuberculosis. There is a chance for tuberculosis to cause a scar tissue in the lungs, especially if the disease becomes advanced.

Therefore, having previous tuberculosis may increase your risk of lung cancer, particularly if the infection has caused scarring in the lungs. It can affect the risk for both smokers and non-smokers.

Even the increased-risk effect may continue for 20+ years after the diagnosis of tuberculosis. The kind of lung cancer associated with previous tuberculosis is usually adenocarcinoma.

COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)

It is a group of lung diseases associated with smoking including chronic obstructive airways disease, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. A meta-analysis study has shown that the risk increases in people with these diseases, especially may be for emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Silicosis

It occurs due to a long-term effect of excessive exposure to crystalline silica, usually over many years. And having previous silicosis may double the risk of developing lung cancer, according to a meta-analysis study.

Therefore, it’s important to take precautions as well if you work in any workplaces with high exposure to silica or other harmful substances. Other things in environment that can increase your risk include radon gas, arsenic, nickel, etc – see more in here!

Again, having previous lung diseases (such as pneumonia) doesn’t mean you will definitely develop lung cancer.

These diseases may have an effect in increasing the risk, but the increase is relatively smaller if compared to smoking. See more about the common risk factors of lung cancer in this section!