Changing profile of lung cancer clinical characteristics in China: Over 8-year population-based study

Although examinations and therapies for bronchial lung cancer, also called lung cancer (LC), have become more effective and precise, the morbidity and mortality of LC remain high worldwide. Describing the changing profile of LC characteristics over time is indispensable. This study aimed to understand the changes in real-world settings of LC and its characteristics in China.

In this study, 119,785 patients were enrolled from 2012 to 2020 in the Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital. The patients' medical records were extracted from the hospital's database. Demographic characteristics, general clinicopathological information, and blood coagulation indices at the initial diagnoses were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis, Nemenyi, chi-squared, and Bonferroni tests. Changes in demographic characteristics during the 8-year study period, namely dynamic changes among different stages and different pathological types, were evaluated.

The percentages of female (from 38.50% [323/839] in 2012 to 48.29% [5112/10,585] in 2020) and non-smoking LC (from 69.34% [475/685] to 80.48% [8055/10,009]) patients increased significantly during the study period, with a trend toward a younger age at diagnosis (from 3.58% [30/839] to 8.99% [952/10,585]). Over the study period, the proportion and absolute number of lung adenocarcinoma cases increased (from 67.97% [433/637] to 76.31% [6606/8657]) while the proportion of lung squamous cell carcinoma decreased (from 21.19% [135/637] to 12.08% [1046/8657]). Comprehensive driver gene mutation examination became more common, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation occurred more frequently in female vs. male (62.03% [12793/20625] vs. 29.90% [8207/27,447]) and non-smoking vs. smoking (53.54% [17,203/32,134] vs. 23.73% [3322/13,997]) patients (both P < 0.001). The distribution of the common driver genes differed among different stages of LC. EGFR mutation was detected most frequently at each stage, and other driver gene alterations were more common in advanced stages (P <0.001). The combination of chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy, as a comprehensive management regimen, gradually became predominant over the study period (P < 0.001). A hypercoagulable state was shown in advanced-stage LC patients and patients with the anaplastic lymphoma kinase fusion, indicated by significantly elevated levels of d-dimer, fibrinogen, and fibrinogen degradation products.

This study comprehensively depicted the changing characteristics of Chinese LC patients over an 8-year period to provide preliminary insights into LC treatment.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05423236.