title: Lung cancer in a health area of Spain: incidence, characteristics and survival.
abstract: To examine the incidence, characteristics, therapeutic approach and survival of diagnosed lung cancer (LC) in the Santiago de Compostela Health Area. A retrospective study was carried out on LC for a period of 3 years. Of the 481 cases collected, 92.7% were male. The median age was 66.93 years. The crude incidence for men and women was 80.71 and 5.84 per 100,000 inhabitants respectively. Among the non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC), 68.1% were diagnosed in stage IIIB or IV. The cancer had already spread in 62.2% of the small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Chemotherapy was used in 51.6% of patients. The survival probability from the first to the fifth year was 47.7%, 24.3%, 12.9%, 10% and 8.9% respectively. The median survival at 5 years was 12.12 months for NSCLC, rising to 29.8 months in stage I, and 8.85 months in SCLC. In our Health Area LC occurs more often in men, in whom the prevalence of smoking is very high. The most common histology type was squamous cell carcinoma. In the majority of cases, the diagnosis is made in the advanced stages, which accounts for the low percentage of surgical treatments and the short survival.
authors.affiliation: Adjunto, Servicio de Cirugía Torácica - Complejo Hospitalario Clínico Universitario de Santiago, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. josemarigp@hotmail.com
authors.forename: J M García
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Prim
authors.forename: F J González
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Barcala
authors.forename: J Paz
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Esquete
authors.forename: A Pose
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Reino
authors.forename: A Fondevila
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: L Valdés
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Cuadrado
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D015996:Survival Rate