Metastatic nonsmall cell lung cancer in South India: A regional demographic study

BACKGROUND: Nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has varying epidemiological patterns in different countries and also in different regions of each country. In a country with a high prevalence of lung cancer such as India, regional variations in demography exist. AIM: A study of unique demographic trends of metastatic NSCLC patients presenting to our regional cancer center. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We did a retrospective analysis of histologically confirmed metastatic NSCLC patients who presented to our Department of Medical Oncology between August 2012 and July 2014. RESULTS: A total of 304 patients were analyzed. About 55.6% of the patients were in the age group of 41–60 years. About 79.6% of the patients were symptomatic for <6 months before presentation. About 63.5% of the patients were smokers presenting with a median age of 59 years whereas nonsmokers formed 36.51% of the patients presenting with a median age of 47 (P < 0.001). About 82.6% of the male patients and 4.1% of female patients were smokers. Equal number of all patients had adenocarcinoma (AC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) histology. AC histology was more common in the nonsmoking group (62% of patients). SCC histology was seen in 54.3% of smokers. Metastasis to the contralateral lung and pleura was seen in 58.2% of patients. CONCLUSION: NSCLC presents at a young age. Smoking is a significant risk factor and it is common in the urban populations as in the rural areas. Both AC and SCC histologies presented in equal proportions.