Abstract
Limited data is available regarding lung cancer in Chinese young adults. This study was aimed to determine the characteristics, survival, and prognostic factors of young lung cancer patients in China. We reviewed demographic and clinical data, and survival information of 420 young patients (20–45 years old) diagnosed with lung cancer in two Chinese hospitals between 2000 and 2013. The results showed that lung cancer occurred more frequently (70%) and affected more males than females (43.8% vs 26.7%) in patients older than 36; whereas, more females were affected under age 35 (16.7% vs 12.8%). Most patients had adenocarcinoma (67.6%) and stage IV disease (72.4%) at presentation. The median survival of all young patients with lung cancer was 44 months (95% CI: 39–49), of which patients with stage I–IIIA disease had a longer survival than those with stage IIIB/IV disease (101 vs 22 months, p < 0.001). No significant difference in survival was found in patients having different histological subtypes or genders. Multivariate analysis revealed that high exposure risk occupations, smoking, family history of lung cancer were risk factors of young lung cancer patients. This study provides an overview of the clinical characteristics, patterns and prognostic factors of young patients with lung cancer in China.
Highlights
Lung cancer has become a serious health burden worldwide, accounting for more than one-quarter (27%) of all cancer-related deaths, with an estimated 2.2 million new cases and 1.6 million deaths per year [1]
A retrospective study reviewed by British scientists using the National Lung Cancer Audit database between 2004 and 2011 has reported that young lung cancer patients were accounted for about 0.5% of the overall lung cancer population, whose performance score and survival were better than older lung cancer patients [6]
A study conducted in the United States has evaluated the surveillance, epidemiology and end results data of lung cancer between 1998 and 2003, and reported that young lung cancer patients were accounted for 1.17% of the total population and had a greater representation of African Americans, Asians, women, and adenocarcinoma histology compared with the older cohort [7]
Summary
Lung cancer has become a serious health burden worldwide, accounting for more than one-quarter (27%) of all cancer-related deaths, with an estimated 2.2 million new cases and 1.6 million deaths per year [1]. There was a rapid increase in incidence of lung cancer among young population. A study conducted in the United States has evaluated the surveillance, epidemiology and end results data of lung cancer between 1998 and 2003, and reported that young lung cancer patients were accounted for 1.17% of the total population and had a greater representation of African Americans, Asians, women, and adenocarcinoma histology compared with the older cohort [7]. Risk factors of lung cancer in the general population include smoking status, air pollution, exposure to carcinogens (e.g. asbestos), and ionizing radiation [9,10,11,12], data regarding on young lung cancer patient subgroup are limited
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