Incidence and Clinicopathologic Features of Primary Lung Cancer: A North-Eastern Anatolia Region Study in Turkey (2006-2012)

Background: Lung cancer is the most frequent cancer among men and second highest among women overall, including in Turkey. Cigarette smoking is the most important etiologic factor for the development of cancer in both men and women. Objective: To determine the lung cancer incidence in Northeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey with a focus on clinical properties, cancer subtypes, the relationships of tumors with cigarette smoking and radiological properties of the lesions. Materials and Methods: In a retrospective study design, 566 lung cancer cases diagnosed at the Pathology Department of Ataturk University in Erzurum over the last seven years extending from January 2006 to June 2012 were investigated. The results were compared with statistical analyses. Results: The most common histopathological subtype of primary bronchogenic carcinoma in our study was found to be the squamous cell carcinoma, 46.1% (261 out of 566), and the second was small cell lung carcinoma 15.7% (89 out of 566). Based on our data, an overall male predominance was noted with a male/female ratio of 6.1/1. While 296 (52.2%) of the patients were found to be smokers at the time of diagnosis, 125 (22.0%) were nonsmokers and 145 (25.6%) were ex-smokers. Smoking status was found to have a strong correlation with primary lung cancer (p<0.05), and there were significant differences between males and females (p<0.001). Conclusion: Although relative prominence of subtypes of lung cancers differ between Turkish and other populations, lung cancer overall remains as an important health problem in Turkey. Our findings stress the critical need for effective cancer prevention programs such as anti-smoking campaigns.