Impact of age on epidermal growth factor receptor mutation in lung cancer

Aging is one of the best, but rarely referred, risk factors for various types of cancer including lung cancer, because age could be a surrogate for accumulation of genetic events in cancers. Smoking inversely associates with the presence of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation in lung cancer, but its strong confounding with age and sex makes it difficult to evaluate sole impact of age. To clarify an impact of age on EGFR mutation, we conducted a cross-sectional study based on data of 1262 lung cancer patients. The associations between EGFR mutation and age, considering sex, smoking and histology, were evaluated using logistic regression models. In multivariate analysis, we found a significant increase of EGFR mutation prevalence by increase of age (p-trend=0.0004). Consistent trend was observed among never-smoking females (p-trend=0.011) and never-smoking males also showed similar trend although not significant. These were consistently observed when we limit the subject to those with adenocarcinoma. In conclusion, age independently associates with EGFR mutation among lung cancer. Positive association between EGFR mutation and age among never-smokers regardless of sex might indicate that EGFR mutation occurs cumulatively by unidentified internal/external factors other than smoking.