Age and clinical characteristics of 1433 patients with lung cancer.

A review has been conducted of 1433 patients treated by the Lung Cancer Unit of our hospital to assess the association of age with clinical characteristics of patients with lung cancer. The factors evaluated were tobacco, stage of disease, treatment and survival of patients treated surgically. A comparison was made of patients aged 65 or less with those over 65. There was a similar prevalence of smokers in both age groups. The stage of disease at time of diagnosis was similar (33% of the patients aged 65 or less were Stage I or II versus 37% of the older patients). The distribution by histological type showed significant differences (p < 0.05) with a higher percentage of squamous carcinoma in the younger group (54% versus 44%). Surgery was performed in 30% of the patients aged 65 years or less but only in 19% of the older cases (p < 0.05). Among those patients treated surgically there was no difference in the survival of younger and older patients.