title: Sex differences in survival in non-small cell lung cancer patients 1974-1998.
abstract: This study comprised a total of 7,553 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (2,660 women and 4,893 men) treated at a comprehensive cancer centre between 1974 and 1998. Significant differences in tumour histology were associated with gender (p < 0.001); adenocarcinoma was the most common diagnosis in both men (50.0%) and women (41.7%); squamous cell carcinoma was the second most prevalent diagnosis (21% and 31% in women and men, respectively); and bronchioalveolar tumours were more prevalent in men (3% compared with 7% in women). Frequency distributions with local, regional or distant disease at registration were similar between men and women (p = 0.906). In a multivariable Cox regression analysis the indications were that gender is an important risk factor for survival. Adjusting for age, stage, treatment received and ability to pay for care, a statistically significant interaction between gender and tumour histology (p = 0.043) was found, where, in relation to female sex and histologies other than squamous carcinoma, women who presented with squamous carcinoma had an increased risk of death (HR = 1.09, 95% CI 1.02-1.18) while men had an increased risk of death for all histologies (HR = 1.29, 95% CI 1.21-1.40, and HR = 1.15, 95% CI 1.07-1.24 for squamous and other histologies, respectively). This study confirms previous reports of strong gender-dependent differences in survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, including a histology-specific effect in women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Laboratory of Functional and Molecular Imaging, NINDS, Bethesda, MD 20892-1065, USA. moorer@ninds.nih.gov
authors.forename: Rhonda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Dorota
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Doherty
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chamberlain
authors.forename: Fadlo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Khuri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D002423:Cause of Death; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology