Greece has the highest rate of lung cancer sufferers under the age of 45 among all European Union countries, according to new research data made public yesterday.

This high incidence of cancer has been linked to the fact that a large proportion of Greek smokers start the habit before they hit 18, according to Constantinos Syrigos, a professor at Athens Medical School and a visiting professor at Yale.

The fact that a third of smokers in Greece are under the age of 25 is another worrying revelation, said Syrigos, who noted that some 7,000 people die of lung cancer in Greece every year. Of these deaths, 90 percent were smokers.

Syrigos, who also heads the oncology unit at Athens’s Sotiria Hospital, revealed the data compiled by his team on the occasion of Lung Awareness Month. More information can be found at www.lungcancer.gr.