Lung cancer characteristics and survival among smokers, former smokers, and never smokers within an Australian lung cancer registry.

Abstract

Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for lung cancer. Lung cancer in never smokers differs from lung cancer in smokers, with higher female prevalence, earlier onset, and greater proportion of adenocarcinoma, and increased chance of an associated genetic predisposition. This study aimed to explore differences in patient, disease and management factors between smokers, former smokers, and never smokers diagnosed with primary lung cancer, using an Australian registry-based dataset to describe real world lung cancer survival outcomes.