PREDICTORS OF LUNG CANCER IN THE YOUNG POPULATION

Abstract

TOPIC: Lung Cancer TYPE: Original Investigations PURPOSE: Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality in the US. Although its incidence increases with advanced age, lung cancer was also seen in young population. Several factors could be involved in early-onset lung cancer. The aim of this study to evaluate the predictors of lung cancer in the young population. METHODS: Data were collected from a commercial database (Explorys, Inc, IBM Watson, Ohio). Adults with the diagnosis of "Neoplasm of lung" based on Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT), were included in the lung cancer group, and the rest of the patients comprised the control group. Univariate analysis was performed to evaluate the Odd Ratio in the two group. RESULTS: A total of 35,536,610 patients were included in the study. After excluding patients under the age of 18 and above the age of 50, a total of 228,640 patients were included in the Lung cancer cohort. In the univariate analysis, predictors of lung cancer were evaluated in each age group. Among patients between the age of 20 to 24 years, the strongest predictor of lung cancer was pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) [OR, 7.8 (95% CI; 3.21-18.71)]. In patients within the age group of 25 to 29, the strongest predictor was cystic fibrosis [OR, 2.9 (95% CI: 1.53-5.32)]. Patients who fell in the 30 to 34 age group, female sex was the strongest predictor of lung cancer [OR, 9.2 (95% CI; 8.36-10.02)]. Male sex was protective across all age groups, OR ranging between 0.1 (95% CI; 0.11-0.13) in the 20-24 age group to 0.4 (95% CI; 0.026-0.39). Likewise, the prevalence of lung cancer was three to five times higher in patients with the aforementioned risk factors when compared to the general population. CONCLUSIONS: Lung cancer is associated with multiple risk factors, some of which are more common than the others. In our study, we found that young patients with such risk factors are more likely to have lung cancer than the general population. Further prospective studies with strict control of these modifiable risk factors are needed to elucidate the true association with lung malignancy. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: This study raises the awarness regarding lung cancer in young adults among physicians. Some of these risk factors are modifilable. Further studies might be needed to demonstartes if better control of these risks might help with decreasing the prevalence of lung malignancy . DISCLOSURES: No relevant relationships by samer Abou Chehade, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Ahmad Abou Yassine, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Mohammad Alshami, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Loai Dahabra, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Ahmad Itani, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Rameez Shaukat, source=Web Response