Study of the survival rate for one year for lung cancer patients

Abstract

Abstract

Background & Aim: Lung cancer is the most common cause of  cancer mortality  worldwide and Its incidence continues to increase. There are no adequate studies and information on cancer epidemiology and mortality in our country. It is necessary to obtain and compare it with international studies to know its use in planning and additional research. This study was based on the necessity of identifying the lung cancer warning in diagnosed and treated patients in the Ministry of Higher Education Hospitals in Damascus.

This study aimed to investigate epidemiology and 1-year survival rate of patients diagnosed with lung cancer in Damascus.

Materials and Methods: A prospective analysis of cohort of 196 patients newly diagnosed with lung cancer at Al-Assad and Al-Mouassat University Hospitals, Damascus, Syria during the period between August 2019 – August 2020.

Demographic and tumor data were gathered and included age, gender, smoking, histological type, and TNM staging. Patients were followed up to one year. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate 1-year survival rate with 95% confidence intervals .

Results: The patients mean age was 59.4 years (range 40-82), 153 patients (78%) were males and 43 (22%) were females. 170 (86.8%) patients were smokers. The most common histological type was squamous cell carcinoma (39.3%), followed by adenocarcinoma (36.7%), small cell carcinoma (15.8%), and large cell carcinoma (2.6%). 1-year survival of all patients was 29.6% (95% CI: 0.23 – 0.36). No significant difference in 1-year survival between males and females was found (30.1% vs 27.9%). Although 1-year survival rate among non-smokers was greater compared to  smokers, the difference was not statistically significant (42.3% vs 27.7%). Patients with SCLC had a significantly lower 1-year survival rate compared to the other histological types of lung cancer. Stage I and II NSCLC patients had a greater 1-year survival rates (80% and 71.4% respectively), while patients with stage IV had a the worst 1-year survival (22.2%). Patients with limited SCLC have a significantly greater 1-year survival rate compared to patients with extensive SCLC (40% vs 7.7%).

Conclusion: The one-year survival rate of lung cancer in our study is comparable to global studies, the prognosis for small cell lung cancer remains the worst. Tumor stage at diagnosis is the most important prognostic factor for survival.