Lung cancer: Signs and symptoms

Approximately 15,000 Australians were diagnosed with lung cancer in 2024-2025¹, making it one of the top 5 most common cancers.

It’s the leading cause of cancer death in Australia. Early detection of lung cancer, when it's most likely localised, significantly improves survival rates and, in many cases, allows for successful removal and treatment.

Recognising the risk factors and the signs and symptoms of lung cancer is the key to a healthy outcome.

Lung cancer is challenging to diagnose. Early signs aren’t what you might imagine from watching movies, where the protagonist coughs flecks of blood into a white hanky, that’s a sign of advanced disease.

4 early red flags that something is not working in your lungs are:²

• Breathlessness
• A cough that is unusual and doesn't go away
• Fatigue
• Sudden weight loss

“Overwhelmingly, the evidence is that those 4 red flags, either singularly or in combination, should absolutely be taken very seriously,” says Lung Foundation Australia CEO Mark Brooke.

“As they're getting a bit older, people tend to put these things down to ageing, carrying a bit more weight, or their general level of fitness. These early symptoms should be escalated into a conversation with your general practitioner or your Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders healthcare worker.”

Other symptoms to be vary of include pain, a hoarse voice, wheezing or loss of appetite.² Experiencing these symptoms may not necessarily mean a diagnosis of lung cancer, but it’s important to get checked.

It's essential that lung cancer is diagnosed at the earliest possible stage.

The survivorship rate for lung cancer dramatically decreases from as high as 65% for stage one down to as low as 5% for stage 4.³

“For people who are diagnosed at an early stage, stage one, curative intent is absolutely possible,” says Mark.

“There's a substantial survivability gain if you are diagnosed early. Early diagnosis means that clinicians and healthcare professionals can bring all of the treatments available to them to prolong your life.”

In Australia an estimated that 81% of lung cancers were caused by smoking.⁴

You can greatly reduce your risk by not smoking or quitting smoking tobacco and avoiding second-hand smoke (passive smoking).

Other factors that can increase your risk of lung cancer include a history of other lung diseases such as lung fibrosis or emphysema, and HIV infection.⁵

There’s also evidence that a family history of lung cancer will put you at increased risk; approximately 8% of lung cancers are inherited or occur as a result of a genetic predisposition.⁶

And you’re more likely to develop it as you age.

Lung cancer is also caused by exposure to chemical hazards that you might come across in certain workplaces, such as asbestos, radon (radioactive gas), arsenic, cadmium, nickel, diesel fumes and soot.⁵

The National Lung Cancer Screening Program, launched in July 2025, is targeted at a specific, high-risk group of people aged 50 to 70, who currently smoke, have quit within the past 10 years or have a history of smoking of at least 30 pack-years (calculated by multiplying the number of cigarette packs smoked per day by the number of years a person has smoked).

And they have to be asymptomatic. A simple non-invasive CT scan is reviewed by the radiologist, and if they find something suspicious, they will refer you back to your GP.

“The program has seen tremendous uptake by people who recognise that even though they're not showing symptoms, they are still at risk,” says Mark.

“So far, about 60,000 people have been referred to the program, and about 700 early-stage cancers have been referred for treatment.”

Note: You can still get a low-dose CT scan if you don't meet those criteria; it just means it won’t be bulk-billed.

That’s the number one Google search question for people with lung cancer. And the short answer to this is no.

Despite the unsettling statistics, a lung cancer diagnosis doesn’t have to be an automatic death sentence.

The National Lung Cancer Screening Program is predicted to save 12,000 lives over the next decade, through early detection. Remember, lung cancer is much more treatable if caught at an early stage.

The 5-year survivorship rate of lung cancer is increasing and now at 27%.

“While this is still low, it’s positive that the survivorship rate is increasing and I'm more optimistic about lung cancer now than ever before.”

The National Lung Cancer Screening Program is a free government program designed to detect lung cancer early in people most at risk, based on age and smoking history.

Understanding Lung Cancer: A guide for people with cancer, their families and friends is a PDF booklet created by the Cancer Council.