The average age of diagnosis of lung cancer in the United States is about 70. The average has increased incrementally over the past 50 years, with the majority of cases still being diagnosed in the advanced stages when people are older.﻿﻿ The median age for a diagnosis of lung cancer in the United States is 71, according to surveillance data released issued by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). From 1975 to 1999, the median age was 66.﻿﻿

Scientists tend to use the median rather than the average (mean) age when considering data, mainly because the median does a better job of accounting for an unbalanced distribution of ages.

Understanding the Data Average age: All the ages added up and divided by the number of cases. Median age: The midway point below which half of younger cases occur and above which half of the older cases occur.

While researchers can only derive solid conclusions from large data sets, let's use a lung cancer patient group of nine just as an example. The patients are 44, 52, 67, 70, 73, 76, 81, 82, and 85 years in age.

The average age of that group is just over 69; the median age is 72.

By using the median, it's clearer that the majority of the lung cancer cases are in people over age 70.

Age of Women vs. Men

In most studies, the median age for lung cancer is slightly different for men and women. Women tend to develop lung cancer at a younger age than men by roughly two years.﻿﻿ Women also are disproportionately affected by lung cancer before the age of 50﻿, according to a 2018 study in the New England Journal of Medicine.﻿﻿

Between the ages of 30 and 54, women are more likely than men to be diagnosed with lung cancer, in part because of the earlier onset of symptoms.﻿﻿

Diagnoses in All Age Groups

The risk of lung cancer increases with age, peaking at age 75 and gradually decreasing thereafter—often because an older person will die of causes other than lung cancer.﻿﻿

The percentage of lung cancer cases by age group breaks down as follows, according to surveillance from the NCI:﻿﻿