"Vaping has the same risks as cigarettes," Syahruddin, who works at the Department of Pulmonology and Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia (FKUI), said at a webinar, which was accessed from here on Tuesday.
Exposure to e-cigarette smoke leads to airway irritation. Continuous irritation, including vaping without nicotine, is also a risk factor for lung cancer.
"If people are using vapes, phenomena such as 'fogging' will appear around them. This has the same (risk)," she said.
Smoking is a major risk factor associated with lung cancer, she added. Cigarettes contain carcinogens, or substances that can cause cancer. While smoking, a person intentionally irritates the airways.
She urged people to avoid the main risk factors that cause lung cancer.
"Prevention is better than cure," she added.
Lung cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in the world after breast cancer, she noted. It is also responsible for the highest number of deaths globally compared to other types of cancer.
"The prognosis of lung cancer is poor when compared to liver cancer or gastric cancer. Lung cancer is the biggest cause of death in the cancer group," she highlighted.
In Indonesia, lung cancer is the third most common cancer and the leading cancer cause of death, based on Globocan 2020 data.
Syahruddin stressed the importance of early detection as the survival rate is higher when lung cancer is detected early. She said that most patients are currently diagnosed at an advanced stage so their chances of survival are very low.
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Translator: Nanien Yuniar, Katriana
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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