TY - JOUR
T1 - Smoking habits in elderly lung cancer patients
T2 - Still no changes in epidemiology? A single-center experience
AU - Sarrió, Regina Gironés
AU - Torregrosa, María Dolores
AU - López, Pedro
AU - Gómez-Codina, José
AU - Rosell, Rafael
PY - 2010/10
Y1 - 2010/10
N2 - Purpose: Our goal was to describe the clinical, histological, and epidemiological characteristics of lung cancer diagnoses in people ã 70 years of age. Materials and methods: Information on patients diagnosed with lung cancer from January 2006 to February 2008 was prospectively collected from the outpatient oncology department at a regional hospital. A total of 83 patients (97.6% men; mean age 77 years) were studied. There was a higher ratio of men to women than that reported in younger populations. Mean age was higher than that reported for randomized studies: 65.1% were ã75 years old. Patients >80 years constituted 28.9% of the study population. Most patients (96.4%) had a history of smoking; they were predominantly former smokers (72.5% vs. 27.5%). Results: The most common histological types were squamous cell (61.3%) and small cell (14.5%) carcinoma. Metastasis was present in 36.1% of patients. Stage was significantly associated with survival (logrank p < 0.001). There was no association between age and survival. Squamous cell lung cancer was associated with a better survival (p = 0.003). Conclusions: Elderly lung cancer patients who attended clinical practice were older than those included in prospective studies. The predominance of men and squamous cell carcinoma is associated with a smoking history. The epidemiological and histological patterns of younger patients have changed, possibly in relation to changes in smoking habits. The translation of these changes to elderly patients will be evidenced in the future. Only prospective epidemiologic studies will determine whether smoking habits are changing epidemiology in elderly lung cancer patients.
AB - Purpose: Our goal was to describe the clinical, histological, and epidemiological characteristics of lung cancer diagnoses in people ã 70 years of age. Materials and methods: Information on patients diagnosed with lung cancer from January 2006 to February 2008 was prospectively collected from the outpatient oncology department at a regional hospital. A total of 83 patients (97.6% men; mean age 77 years) were studied. There was a higher ratio of men to women than that reported in younger populations. Mean age was higher than that reported for randomized studies: 65.1% were ã75 years old. Patients >80 years constituted 28.9% of the study population. Most patients (96.4%) had a history of smoking; they were predominantly former smokers (72.5% vs. 27.5%). Results: The most common histological types were squamous cell (61.3%) and small cell (14.5%) carcinoma. Metastasis was present in 36.1% of patients. Stage was significantly associated with survival (logrank p < 0.001). There was no association between age and survival. Squamous cell lung cancer was associated with a better survival (p = 0.003). Conclusions: Elderly lung cancer patients who attended clinical practice were older than those included in prospective studies. The predominance of men and squamous cell carcinoma is associated with a smoking history. The epidemiological and histological patterns of younger patients have changed, possibly in relation to changes in smoking habits. The translation of these changes to elderly patients will be evidenced in the future. Only prospective epidemiologic studies will determine whether smoking habits are changing epidemiology in elderly lung cancer patients.
KW - Elderly
KW - Epidemiology
KW - Histology
KW - Lung cancer
KW - Smoking
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78649659744&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s12094-010-0578-5
DO - 10.1007/s12094-010-0578-5
M3 - Artículo
SN - 1699-048X
VL - 12
SP - 686
EP - 691
JO - Clinical and Translational Oncology
JF - Clinical and Translational Oncology
IS - 10
ER -