Nat King Cole: Understanding Lung Cancer

A note on sourcing, before anything else

Nat King Cole was one of the great American singers and pianists. It is widely repeated online that he died of lung cancer in 1965 at the age of 45.

We could not confirm that from a reputable news source we were able to read directly. The claim traces back through health-content sites and encyclopedia entries rather than contemporaneous wire reporting we could verify. So this page does not assert it.

What follows is not about him. It is what the National Cancer Institute says about lung cancer, offered because that is what people looking for his name are usually trying to understand.

What lung cancer is

Lung cancer starts in the tissues of the lung, most often in the cells lining the airways.

It splits into two families that behave differently enough to need separate treatment plans. Non-small cell lung cancer is by far the more common, and it includes adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and large cell carcinoma. Small cell lung cancer is less common, grows faster, and spreads earlier.

Which one a person has is decided by a pathologist looking at biopsy tissue under a microscope. Modern care adds a second layer: testing the tumor for specific genetic changes and protein markers that determine whether targeted drugs or immunotherapy will work. Our page on biomarker testing explains what those results mean.

The numbers

For 2026 the American Cancer Society projects 229,410 new US lung and bronchus cancer diagnoses and 124,990 deaths, and SEER carries that projection. It kills more Americans than any other cancer.

Five-year relative survival across all stages, for cases diagnosed in 2016 to 2022, is 29.5%. By stage that becomes 65.5% for localized disease, still confined to the lung; 38.2% for regional disease, which has reached nearby structures or lymph nodes; and 10.5% for distant disease.

Now the number that explains the rest: only 24% of US cases are found while still localized, and 51% are already distant at diagnosis.

These are group statistics over past years. They do not forecast any individual's course, and they do not reflect the treatments introduced most recently. Our page on lung cancer covers types and staging in more detail.

Why smoking dominates the picture

NCI states that cigarette smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke cause about 480,000 premature deaths a year in the United States, with about 36% of those from cancer.

Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, at least 250 of them known to be harmful, including hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide and ammonia.

Stopping changes the arithmetic at any age. Drawing on the US National Health Interview Survey, NCI reports that people who quit between 25 and 34 live about 10 years longer than those who continue; quitting between 35 and 44 gains about 9 years; between 45 and 54, about 6 years; and between 55 and 64, about 4 years. Even smokers who stopped in their sixties had a lower risk of death during follow-up than those who kept smoking. Our guide to quitting smoking covers what actually helps.

Lung cancer also occurs in people who have never smoked. Radon, secondhand smoke, asbestos and air pollution are recognized causes, and a never-smoker with symptoms deserves the same investigation as anyone else.

Screening

The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends annual screening with low-dose computed tomography for adults aged 50 to 80 who have a 20 pack-year smoking history and who currently smoke or quit within the past 15 years.

A pack-year means a pack a day for a year, so 20 pack-years could be one pack daily for twenty years or two packs daily for ten.

USPSTF adds that screening should stop once someone has gone 15 years without smoking, or develops a health problem that substantially limits life expectancy or the ability or willingness to have curative lung surgery. Our guide to lung cancer screening covers what the scan involves.

When to get checked

NCI lists these signs of non-small cell lung cancer, and says to check with a doctor if you have any of them:

• Chest discomfort or pain
• A cough that does not go away, or gets worse over time
• Trouble breathing, or wheezing
• Blood in sputum, the mucus coughed up from the lungs
• Hoarseness
• Loss of appetite, or weight loss with no known cause
• Fatigue
• Trouble swallowing
• Swelling in the face, or in the veins of the neck

Coughing up blood warrants a prompt call to a doctor, even if it happens only once.

What this does not mean

• This page makes no claim about Nat King Cole's health. We could not verify the widely repeated account against a reputable outlet, so we do not repeat it.
• The 29.5% all-stages survival figure mixes very different situations together. Stage is the single largest factor, and late diagnosis dominates the average.
• Screening is offered to a defined high-risk group because the harms, including a high rate of false positives, outweigh benefits in people at low risk.
• Never smoking does not exclude lung cancer, and a normal screen last year does not explain away a new symptom.
• Nothing here is a substitute for advice from a clinician who knows your history.

Sources

• NCI PDQ, Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treatment (Patient Version) — https://www.cancer.gov/types/lung/patient/non-small-cell-lung-treatment-pdq
• NCI, Harms of Cigarette Smoking and Health Benefits of Quitting — https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/tobacco/cessation-fact-sheet
• USPSTF, Lung Cancer: Screening — https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/lung-cancer-screening
• SEER Cancer Stat Facts, Lung and Bronchus Cancer — https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/lungb.html
• American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts & Figures — https://www.cancer.org/research/cancer-facts-statistics.html

How this article was prepared

An AI-assisted editorial system helped prepare this page. No named medical reviewer has reviewed it unless one is listed.

The National Cancer Information Foundation publishes Cancer Explained. This page is for learning. It is not medical advice and does not suggest a test or treatment.

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