MORE women died from lung cancer last year than in any other 12-month period since a government study began 12 years ago.
The disease killed significantly more women last year than in 1991, while mortality rates for breast and colon cancer dropped.
The latest Department of Health figures for 1992, to be released in its annual report next March, reveal that 954 women died from lung cancer last year.
The number represents an increase of 73 deaths on 1991 and the highest figure in the department's 12-year study.
Breast cancer last year claimed 331 lives, two less than 1991, and colon cancer deaths dropped by 25 to 285.
Prince of Wales Hospital heart and lung surgery lecturer Dr Anthony Yim Ping-chuen said smoking could be directly related to lung cancer.
