Abstract
Background: In 1798 Le Roux, fellow of Bichat, reported that primary lung cancer was nonexistent. Today it is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide with 1.7 million in 2015.
Aim: The aim of this study was to estimate the primary lung cancer prevalence changes around the world from the end of the 18th century to 1950, when the first registers became available.
Methods: International autopsic studies results from 1760 to 1950 were collected. All major international electronic databases were queried and paper files were obtained when electronic data were not available.
Results: In 22 countries across America, Europe, Asia, Africa, 1899 references representing 4067041 autopsies were found. We estimate that, in the first half of the 19th century, lung cancer crude prevalence ranged from 1.82*10-5 in France (with a mean age at death of 62.3) to 0.0054 in Germany. This was followed by a period of stability in the second part of the 19th century with a prevalence ranging from 0 in Italy to 0.16 in UK. These figures increased dramatically from the beginning of the 20th century to reach a prevalence of 0.39 in 1947 in Germany.
Conclusion: To our knowledge, it is the first study reporting historical lung cancer prevalence for this period: Lung cancer was rare 200 years ago but increased significantly from the beginning of the twentieth century onwards, reflecting probably the introduction of manufactured cigarettes.
Footnotes
Cite this article as: European Respiratory Journal 2018 52: Suppl. 62, PA2838.
This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).
- Copyright ©the authors 2018