In a national population-based study of 16,036 lung cancer patients, Hispanics with curable stage I lung cancer had poorer lung cancer specific survival rates, as well as worse all-cause mortality, than a much larger group of white persons. Study results will appear in the second issue for May 2005 of the American Thoracic Society's peer-reviewed American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Juan P. Wisnivesky, M.D., M.P.H., of the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, New York, along with five associates, noted that the disparities between the two ethnic groups were largely explained by lower rates of surgical resection among the Hispanics and higher probability of diagnosis at the more advanced IB stage for lung cancer.
"Lung cancer is the leading cause of death among Hispanic men and the second leading cause of death among Hispanic women," said Dr. Wisnivesky. "Meaningful long-term survival, unfortunately, is only possible with non-small cell lung cancer cases diagnosed at an early stage and treated with surgical resection. Patients with surgically resected stage I lung cancer have at least a 65 percent probability of surviving 5 years or longer. Conversely, patients with early stages of lung cancer who do not undergo resection have a median survival of less than 2 years."