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. 2022 Aug;11(8):1591-1605.
doi: 10.21037/tlcr-22-240.

Survival of 7,311 lung cancer patients by pathological stage and histological classification: a multicenter hospital-based study in China

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Survival of 7,311 lung cancer patients by pathological stage and histological classification: a multicenter hospital-based study in China

Siyi He et al. Transl Lung Cancer Res. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Representative prognostic data by clinical characteristics for lung cancer is not yet available in China. This study aimed to calculate the survival of lung cancer patients with different pathological evaluations, explore their predictive effects and provide information for prognosis improvement.

Methods: In this multicenter cohort study, primary lung cancer patients diagnosed in 17 hospitals at three distinct levels in China between 2011-2013 were enrolled and followed up till 2020. Overall survival and lung cancer specific survival were calculated by Kaplan-Meier method. Cox proportional hazards model was applied to assess the effects of predictors of lung cancer survival.

Results: Of all the 7,311 patients, the 5-year overall and lung cancer specific survival rates were 37.0% and 41.6%, respectively. For lung cancer patients at stages I, II, III, and IV, the 5-year overall survival rates were 76.9%, 56.1%, 32.6%, and 21.4%, respectively; the lung cancer specific survival rates were 82.3%, 59.7%, 37.2%, and 26.4%, respectively. Differences of survival for each stage remained significant between histological classifications (P<0.01). The 5-year overall survival rates for patients with squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma (AC), and small cell carcinoma were 36.9%, 43.3% and 27.9%, respectively; the corresponding disease-specific rates were 41.5%, 48.6% and 31.0%, respectively. Such differences were non-statistically significant at advanced stages (P=0.09). After multivariate adjustments, stage and classification remained independent predictors for the survival of lung cancer.

Conclusions: The prognosis of lung cancer varied with the pathological stages and histological classifications, and had room for improvement. Stage was the strongest predictor, so efforts on early detection and treatment are needed.

Keywords: Lung neoplasms; histological classification; multicenter study; neoplasm staging; survival analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://tlcr.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/tlcr-22-240/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of the study population.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Survival curves of lung cancer patients with specific diagnosis of pathological stage/histological classification. (A) Overall survival curves of patients by pathological stage. (B) Lung cancer specific survival curves of patients by pathological stage. (C) Overall survival curves of patients by histological classification. (D) Lung cancer specific survival curves of patients by histological classification. AC, adenocarcinoma; SCC, squamous cell carcinoma; SCLC, small cell lung carcinoma.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Cox regression analysis on associations between clinical characteristics and the survival of enrolled lung cancer patients. [Notes: The forest plot refers to the HRs in the cox regression analysis adjusted by all the considered variables (adjusted HR2). Adjusted HR1: Cox proportional hazards models were adjusted by age at diagnosis, sex, smoking, alcohol assumption, history of respiratory diseases, family history of lung cancer, and BMI. Adjusted HR2: Cox proportional hazards models were further adjusted by pathological stage (for histological classification)/histological classification (for pathological stage), lesion site, treatment, grade of the hospital and location of the hospital. LCSS, lung cancer specific survival; OS, overall survival; HR, hazard ratio.

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