Racial survival patterns for lung cancer in Hawaii

From 1960 through 1974, the Hawaii Tumor Registry identified 1895 cases of lung cancer with either small cell or non-small cell carcinoma among the five main racial groups in the islands. There were 650 Caucasians, 549 Japanese, 362 Hawaiian, 173 Filipino and 161 Chinese patients. Analysis revealed that Caucasians with non-small cell carcinoma had a significantly poorer five-year survival rate than Chinese, Filipino, or Japanese patients after simultaneous adjustment for differences in sex, age at diagnosis, stage, and socioeconomic status. Men, older patients, patients with regional or distant disease, and patients in a middle or low socioeconomic status also did worse than the others. When the 170 patients with small cell carcinoma were compared with 1725 patients with non-small cell carcinoma, patients with small cell carcinoma had significantly poorer survival rates after five years.