Anthropometric, clinical and haematological characteristics of the study population
| Characteristic | Observations | Median (range) or Frequency |
| Age yrs | 343 | 68 (39–86) |
| Sex M/F | 343 | 304/31 |
| ECOG PS 0/1/2/3/4 | 343 | 43/157/108/28/7 |
| Weight loss in the prior 6 months Y/N | 343 | 244/99 |
| Haemoglobin g·dL-1 | 343 | 13.5 (8.0–20.0) |
| White blood cells n·mm-3 | 343 | 9416 (3300–30700) |
| Neutrophils n·mm-3 | 343 | 6622 (1600–24100) |
| Lactate dehydrogenase mg·dL-1 | 343 | 432 (81–4895) |
| Alkaline phosphatase mg·dL-1 | 341 | 114 (43–2171) |
| Glutamic pyruvic transaminase mg·dL-1 | 343 | 28 (5–202) |
| Glutamic oxalacetic transaminase mg·dL-1 | 343 | 26 (9–208) |
| Creatinine mg·dL-1 | 343 | 1 (0.5–3.3) |
| Sodium mEq·mL-1 | 342 | 140 (114–148) |
| Carcinoembryonic antigen ng·mL-1 | 342 | 35 (0–1854) |
| Tissue polypeptide antigen U·L-1 | 342 | 203 (30–2900) |
| Histology E/S/A/L/U | 343 | 125/34/80/16/88 |
| Stage of disease 0/1a/1b/2a/2b/3a/3b/4 | 343 | 3/35/34/5/21/40/84/121 |
| T factor 0/1/2/3/4 | 343 | 3/63/118/51/108 |
| N factor 0/1/2/3 | 343 | 151/38/107/47 |
| M factor 0/1 | 343 | 222/121 |
ECOG: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group; PS: performance status; Y: yes; N: no; E: epidermoid carcinomas; S: small cell lung cancers; A: adenocarcinomas; L: large cell anaplastic carcinomas; U: unclassified carcinomas; T factor: single tumour factor; N factor: mode factor; M factor: metastasis factor.