Abstract
Background: Both cardio vascular diseases (CVD) and lung cancer are associated with chronic inflammation. It is known that chronic inflammation is associated with increased cell turnover, angio-neogenesis and apotosis. The aim of our study was to investigate whether CVD is associated with a shorter survival in patients with lung cancer
Method: We analyzed data from a large cohort study, the Nord-Trøndelag Health study (1986 to 2008). A total of 97,087 persons (52% women) with 1,634,967 persons years were included in the study. To estimate the survival the Cox regression model was used with smoking status (never, former, current), histology (NSCLC/SCLC), stage of the disease (localized/advanced), Body mass index (BMI), sex and age at diagnosis as confounders.
Results: In total we found 1191 (1.2%) cases of lung cancer, 15% of them with CVD in the whole study population. The median overall survival for those without CVD was 6 months vs. 3 months for the patients with CVD (log rank <0.001). CVD vs non-CVD HR 1.34, 95% CI 1.03-1.74, p 0.028. Also age at diagnosis, histology and stage were associated with survival. Patients with lung cancer who died, died in 90 % of lung cancer related mortality.
Conclusion: Patients with lung cancer and CVD have a shorter survival compared to those without CVD and lung cancer.
- © 2014 ERS