AUTHOR=Kiss Zoltán , Bogos Krisztina , Tamási Lilla , Ostoros Gyula , Müller Veronika , Urbán László , Bittner Nora , Sárosi Veronika , Vastag Aladár , Polányi Zoltán , Nagy-Erdei Zsófia , Daniel Andrea , Vokó Zoltán , Nagy Balázs , Horvath Krisztian , Rokszin MD György , Abonyi-Tóth Zsolt , Barcza Zsófia , Gálffy Gabriella , Moldvay Judit 

TITLE=Improvement in Lung Cancer Survival: 6-Year Trends of Overall Survival at Hungarian Patients Diagnosed in 2011–2016

JOURNAL=Pathology and Oncology Research

VOLUME=27

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.por-journal.com/journals/pathology-and-oncology-research/articles/10.3389/pore.2021.603937

DOI=10.3389/pore.2021.603937

ISSN=1532-2807

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Objective:</bold> Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide and its survival is still poor. The objective of our study was to estimate long-term survival of Hungarian lung cancer patients at first time based on a nationwide review of the National Health Insurance Fund database.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> Our retrospective, longitudinal study included patients aged ≥20 years who were diagnosed with lung cancer (ICD-10 C34) between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2016. Survival rates were evaluated by year of diagnosis, patient gender and age, and morphology of lung cancer.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> 41,854 newly diagnosed lung cancer patients were recorded. Mean age at diagnosis varied between 64.7 and 65.9 years during study period. One- and 5-year overall survival rates for the total population were 42.2 and 17.9%, respectively. Survival was statistically associated with gender, age and type of lung cancer. Female patients (<italic>n</italic> = 16,362) had 23% better survival (HR: 0.77, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.75–0.79; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) than males (<italic>n</italic> = 25,492). The highest survival rates were found in the 20–49 age cohort (5Y = 31.3%) and if the cancer type was adenocarcinoma (5Y = 20.5%). We measured 5.3% improvement (9.2% adjusted) in lung cancer survival comparing the period 2015–2016 to 2011–2012 (HR: 0.95 95% CI: 0.92–0.97; <italic>p</italic> = 0.003), the highest at females &lt;60 year (0.86 (adjusted HR was 0.79), interaction analysis was significant for age and histology types.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Our study provided long-term Lung cancer survival data in Hungary for the first time. We found a 5.3% improvement in 5-year survival in 4 years. Women and young patients had better survival. Survival rates were comparable to–and at the higher end of–rates registered in other East-Central European countries (7.7%–15.7%).</p>