American Thoracic Society Journal news tips for May 2005 (sec...( HISPANICS SHOW WORSE LUNG CANCER SURV...),Health

HISPANICS SHOW WORSE LUNG CANCER SURVIVAL RATE

In a national population-based study of 16,036 lung cancer patients, Hispanics with curable stage I lung cancer had poorer lung cancer specific survival rates, as well as worse all-cause mortality, than a much larger group of white persons. Researchers said that the disparities between the two ethnic groups were largely explained by lower rates of surgical removal of cancerous tissue (surgical resection) among the Hispanics and a higher probably of being diagnosed at the more advanced IB stage for lung cancer.

According to the investigators, lung cancer is the leading cause of death among Hispanic men and the second leading cause of death among Hispanic women. They pointed out that meaningful long-term survival was only possible when non-small cell lung cancer cases are diagnosed at an early stage and treated with surgical resection of the affected lung tissue. Then patients have at least a 65 percent probability of surviving five years or longer. Without surgical resection, the median survival is less than two years.

In this study, the five-year lung cancer survival rate was 54 percent for Hispanics versus 62 percent for whites. Also, Hispanics were more frequently diagnosed with later stage lung cancer IB.

All cases in the investigation were selected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program, a national database that collects information on all incident cancer cases in selected areas of the United States. Of the 16,036 eligible patients with stage I primary non-small cell lung cancer who were diagnosed between 1991 and 2000, 646 (4.3 percent) were Hispanics and 15,350 (95.7 percent) were white.

The study appears in the second issue for May 2005 of the American Thoracic Society's peer-reviewed American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

NONINVASIVE MEASUREMENT OF AIRWAY INFLAMMATION IN ASTHMATIC CHILDREN
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Contact: Cathy Carlomagno
ccarlomagno@thoracic.org
212-315-6442
American Thoracic Society
16-May-2005