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Compared to non-small-cell lung cancer rates in 2000, researchers also found that the disease may be changing, with more patients developing adenocarcinoma, as opposed to other common forms of the disease, such as squamous cell or large cell carcinoma, according to a presentation at the European Respiratory Society's annual meeting in Vienna, Austria.
The reason for the changes is still unknown, according to Dr Chrystèle Locher, who was involved in the study at the French College of General Hospital Respiratory Physicians.
"We recently saw that the World Health Organisation have classified diesel fumes as carcinogenic, but more research is needed to understand other factors that could contribute to lung cancer in non-smokers. Anti-smoking campaigns must also target women more specifically, as we can see little change in lung cancer rates caused by smoking in women," Dr Locher said in a statement.
Dr Locher's team conducted a multicenter epidemiologic study of records from 7 610 patients with new cases of primary lung cancer in 2010, comparing the findings to those from a similar study of 5 667 patients in the year 2000.
Small-cell cancers
They found non-small-cell cancers in 6 083 patients (86.3%). Of those, 11.9% were in nonsmokers, up from 7.9% in 2000, and 24.4% were in women, up from 16%. Adenocarcinoma was more common in 2010, at 53.5% of the total, compared to 35.8% in 2000.
The new data also show an apparent shift in the stage of the disease, with 58% of the patients diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, compared to 43% in 2000. That change, however, may be an effect of a change in classification of disease stages, the researchers say.
Findings such as these should lead doctors to consider checking for cancers in patients who might not be obvious candidates for the disease, said Dr Hossein Borghaei, director of thoracic medical oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, who was not involved in the research.
"There's a tendency not to think of lung cancer in young patients, but cancer should be investigated in patients who don't respond to standard therapies. I'm not advocating a CAT scan on every patient, just on the ones that don't respond to standard therapies for cough or common cold," Dr Borghaei told Reuters Health by phone.
(Reuters Health, Rob Goodier, September 2012)
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