Is Gender a Risk Factor for Lung Cancer? Study on a Patient Cohort from Clinical Pneumology Hospital of Constanta

Abstract

Background - There are few reports that assess differences in clinicopathological parameters between women and men with lung cancer. This paper focuses on the demographic factors and factors connected with disease in patients diagnosed with lung cancer. Materials and methods – Data were recorded on all patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer who presented at the Clinical Pneumology Hospital of Constanta over a 5 years period. Results – There were 90 women and 388 men with lung cancer. Women were older than men (67.48 versus 60.99 years; P <0.001). Squamous cancer was the predominant type of lung cancer in men (45.6%) and adenocarcinoma (37.6%) was more frequent in women. Women were more frequently non-smokers than men (35.5% versus 3.1%; P <0.001). Adenocarcinoma patients smoked less intensively than patients with squamous and SCLC both in women (32.3 versus 36.6 and 34.6 packs/year; P <0.02) and in men (39.3 versus 44.6 and 43.2 packs/year; P <0.002). A significantly higher percentage of women than men with disseminated diseases was observed (20.3% versus 13.9%; P <0.001). Five years survival was higher for women than men (14.2% versus 8.9%). Conclusions: Lung cancer was four times more frequent in men than in women. Women with lung cancer were older than men and smoked less intensively. Over-representation of adenocarcinoma was observed in the women. Women with lung cancer had a better survival than men.