The changing pattern of non-small cell lung cancer between the 90 and 2000 decades.

BACKGROUND

In Europe, approximately 381,500 patients are diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) every year. The aim of this study is to analyse the changes in diagnosis, treatment and evolution during the last two decades, using data from a hospital registry.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Patients diagnosed with NSCLC at the Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí-Sabadell (Catalonia, Spain) during the periods 1990-1997 (n=748) and 2003-2005 (n=311) were included. The hospital tumour registry was used for prospective data collection.

RESULTS

Our series shows a significant increase in women diagnosed with NSCLC (6% vs 10.3%; p 0.01) in the latter period; the incidence of adenocarcinomas increased by 20% (31% vs 51.1%), whereas that of squamous cell carcinomas fell (51.3% vs 32.5%; p<0.001). The proportion of patients receiving active treatment also increased significantly, from 56.6% to 76.5% (p<0.001). Disease stage at diagnosis and the number of patients treated by radical surgical resection remained unchanged. Among the favourable independent prognostic factors for survival were: gender (women), age less than 70 years old, Karnofsky index ≥70%, early stage at diagnosis, treatment with chemotherapy, and being diagnosed in the latter period 2003-2005 (HR 0.67). Over this 10-year period, absolute gain in mean survival in our series was 115 days.

CONCLUSIONS

The absolute gain in mean survival in NSCLC patients in the period studied was 3.8 months, with a 6.75% increase in 5-year survival. Hospital registry data may help the correct assessment of epidemiological changes and the real effectiveness of treatments, which are sometimes overestimated in clinical trials.