A 5 Year Tertiary Centre Experience of Frequency & Risk Factors Association with Primary and Secondary Lung Cancers

Abstract

Introduction: Lung cancer is one of the commonest cancers worldwide having either small cell or non-small cell types and smoking is its major risk factor. We intend to study distribution of various lung malignancies and their association with various  risk factors in a Pakistani population  sample.

Aims & Objectives: To evaluate the frequency of types of primary and secondary lung cancers in a sample of the Pakistani population and see their association with age, gender, and smoking.

Place and duration of study: The department of Pulmonology, Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Federal Postgraduate Medical Institute, Lahore, Pakistan, from August 2017 to August 2022 (5 years).

Material & Methods: Analysis of retrospective data of 156 consecutive patients age 40-70 years diagnosed with primary or secondary lung cancers. Data were stored and analyzed using IBM-SPSS version 23.0. Diagnosis was established through fibreoptic (FOB), or rigid bronchoscopies or CT and U/S guided percutaneous lung biopsies, P- value<0.05 was taken as significant

Results: There were 156 samples, among them 37.8% were found with age group 41 – 60 years old, 31.4% with age group 61 – 70 years old, mean age of subjects was 58.3 (SD=±14.9) years. 82.1% were of male gender, 42.9% were non- smokers, 25% were found with less than or equal to 25 smoking pack years, median smoking pack years were 30 with range 5 – 100 smoking pack years. Distribution of primary lung malignancy revealed; 28.8% having Squamous cell carcinoma, 35.3% with Adenocarcinoma, 13.5% with small cell carcinoma, 2.6% with large cell carcinoma and 5.8% with primary lung carcinoid tumors. Secondary deposits of cancer in lungs were found in 22 (14.1%) subjects. Pearson Chi Square test showed significant association of primary type of cancer with age group, gender, and smoking pack years (p <0.01).

Conclusion: Adenocarcinoma was most frequent lung malignancy followed by   Squamous cell   carcinoma   and small cell carcinoma was less frequent. Advancing age, male gender and cigarette smoking are strongly associated with the diagnosis of lung cancer.