[Changing pattern and frequency of lung cancer in Mexico].
OBJECTIVE
To assess the frequency, histological type and the epidemiological pattern of lung cancer (LC), during a 40 year period, at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER).


METHODS
This cross-sectional study was conducted in 1999. Data were abstracted from the INER's service reports for 1983-1996 and the surgical pathology archives for 1957-1996. Data from 1961 patients were analyzed, to obtain frequency measures on: the characteristics of INER LC patient admissions, age, sex, histological studies, specimens and diagnoses.


RESULTS
Between 1983-1996, LC ranked eighth to second place in INER inpatient admissions. Results were grouped by decades. In the first two decades (1957-1976), 9% of patients were female; 32% in the third (1977-1986), and 38% in the last decade (1987-1996). Epidermoid cell carcinoma was more frequent in the two first decades (61%) and adenocarcinoma in the last two, (41% and 62%, respectively.)


CONCLUSIONS
LC is currently more frequent in women, and adenocarcinoma is the most frequent neoplasia.
Medina-Morales
F
F
Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias (INER), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México.
Salazar-Flores
M
M
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged