VITALS

* More people in the United States die of lung cancer than any other cancer; an estimated 160,000 lung cancer deaths are expected this year.

* Eighty-seven percent of lung cancer cases are smoking-related.

* Since 1987, more women have died each year of lung cancer than breast cancer.

* Women will account for nearly half of the lung cancer diagnoses in the U.S. this year.

* The lung cancer death rate for black people is much higher than for whites; a rate of 80.8 per 100,000 black males compared with 54 per 100,000 white males.

* Lung cancer is more often diagnosed at localized stages (meaning the cancer has not yet spread beyond the original tumor) in whites than in blacks.

* The average age of people found to have lung cancer is 60.

* Among people whose cancer is found early, the average survival rate is 49%. But for people whose cancer has spread to other organs, the survival rate is only 15%.

* Most--80%--of lung cancer cases are diagnosed at advanced stages.

* Seventy percent of patients found to have lung cancer never see an oncologist (cancer specialist), most often because they mistakenly believe that there are no effective treatments.

* The cure rate for lung cancer almost doubled from 8% in 1964 to 14% in 1997.

* Compared with other serious diseases, not as much money is spent on lung cancer. For example, $800 is spent on research per lung cancer death compared with $7,500 per breast cancer death.

Sources: American Lung Assn. and the American Cancer Society