TY - JOUR T1 - Small cell lung cancer in never-smokers JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/13993003.01524-2015 SP - ERJ-01524-2015 AU - María Torres-Durán AU - Alberto Ruano-Ravina AU - Karl T. Kelsey AU - Isaura Parente-Lamelas AU - Mariano Provencio AU - Virginia Leiro-Fernández AU - José Abal-Arca AU - Carmen Montero-Martínez AU - Iria Vidal-Garcia AU - Carolina Pena AU - Olalla Castro-Añón AU - Antonio Golpe-Gómez AU - Cristina Martínez AU - Rosirys Guzmán-Taveras AU - María José Mejuto-Martí AU - Alberto Fernández-Villar AU - Juan Miguel Barros-Dios Y1 - 2015/12/23 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2015/12/22/13993003.01524-2015.abstract N2 - Our aim was to describe the characteristics of a case-series of never-smoker small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cases.Cases of SCLC were selected from a prospective, multicenter, hospital-based case–control study performed in Spain. Participants were never-smokers older than 30 years with an anatomo-pathological confirmation of primary lung cancer. We collected clinical and epidemiological variables according to the study's protocol.We included 19 SCLC cases, 18 females (94.7%), median age 75 years (interquartile range (IQR) 70–80). Median residential radon concentration was 195 Bq·m−3 (IQR 130–229). 10 patients had limited disease and nine had extended disease. Median survival was 242 days (IQR 94–496); 1- and 2-year survival were 36.8% and 17.6%, respectively. Survival was much higher for individuals with limited disease than for those with extended disease (median 336 versus 235 days; 1-year survival 50% versus 22.2% and 2-year survival 27% versus 0%, respectively). Performance status at diagnosis was closely related to survival.SCLC is an infrequent, highly aggressive disease in never-smokers. Survival is poor, even for limited disease. Age at diagnosis in SCLC is higher than that observed for never-smokers with adenocarcinoma. Residential radon exposure is higher than the action levels recommended by the World Health Organization.Small cell lung cancer in never-smokers has a poor survival and is diagnosed at older ages than other lung cancers http://ow.ly/USS2W ER -