Original scientific paper
SMOKING BEHAVIORS AND LUNG CANCER EPIDEMIOLOGY: A COHORT STUDY
Suzana Kukulj
; Department for Mediastinal Tumors, Clinic for Lung Disease Jordanovac, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Filip Popović
; Department for Mediastinal Tumors, Clinic for Lung Disease Jordanovac, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Bernard Budimir
; Department for Mediastinal Tumors, Clinic for Lung Disease Jordanovac, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Gordana Drpa
; Department for Mediastinal Tumors, Clinic for Lung Disease Jordanovac, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Marina Serdarević
; Department for Mediastinal Tumors, Clinic for Lung Disease Jordanovac, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Marina Polić-Vižintin
; Andrija Stampar Teaching Institute of Public Health, Department of Public Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Background: Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the world. According to the latest available data, in the year 2012
Croatia was among 20 countries with the highest incidence of lung cancer. Although tobacco smoking is a proven cause of lung
cancer, recent data show that more than one quarter of adult inhabitants of Croatia are everyday smokers. The purpose of this study
was to present epidemiology and treatment modalities of lung cancer in the Department for mediastinal tumors, Clinic for lung
diseases Jordanovac, and to make a comparison between the available data from Croatia and the rest of the world.
Subjects and methods: The study cohort included 212 newly diagnosed lung cancer patients who had referred to our Department
from January 2012 until December 2012. Features such as age, gender, cytology and histology of the tumor, stage at diagnosis and
applied therapy were evaluated respectively.
Results: Approximately two-thirds of all newly diagnosed lung cancers occurred in men. Out of the study cohort, 12.3% were
diagnosed with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and 87.7% were diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The majority of
the patients diagnosed with NSCLC had adenocarcinoma (47.9%), followed by squamous cell carcinoma (33.9%) and large cell
carcinoma (15%). Only a small number of patients diagnosed and treated for lung cancer in our Department had never smoked
tobacco. The majority of those patients were women and the most common histological type found was adenocarcinoma.
Conclusion: The number of patients who had potentially operable disease at presentation was around 10%. That is why, in most
cases, therapeutic options were confined to palliative chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Attention should be directed to an early
detection of lung cancer patients, which could provide better treatment options and improve overall survival.
Keywords
lung cancer; lung cancer epidemiology; tobacco smoking; lung cancer treatment
Hrčak ID:
265283
URI
Publication date:
23.12.2014.
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