The survival rates among men and women with lung cancer vary. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have conducted a study to find out the potential reasons behind these differences such as smoking history, presence of other diseases etc. Findings from a new study published in Chest suggested that women have better survival rates after lung cancer surgery as compared to men, independent of other factors.
There are various previous studies on sex differences in survival after lung cancer treatment has yielded conflicting results. Thus, this research group has set out to further investigate the link between sex and survival rate after lung cancer surgery. Erik Sachs, study’s first author, said, “The healthcare sector is always striving to offer all patients equal treatment tailored to their individual needs. This kind of study can help shed light on systematic differences that ultimately affect patient outcomes.”
In this study, the researchers have analyzed sex differences in survival among women and menu after lung cancer surgery taking into account various factors like socioeconomic differences, smoking status, age, tumor characteristics, age, type and extent of surgery etc. The follow-up was carried out one, five and ten years after surgery. The sample of research consisted of 6536 patients who underwent surgery from 2008 to 2017; and out of these, half were women. The mean age was 67 years for women and those of men was 68 years. Also, more women were non-smokers.
The results of the study show that women had 27% lower mortality compared to men, independent of other factors. The pattern of better survival rate in women was observed across all age categories with only exception of youngest patients.
Veronica Jackson, researcher at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, said, “Further studies that specifically investigate the effects of lifestyle, socio-cultural conditions and the presence of any inequalities in the delivery of care would likely be of value.”
The information shared in this blog is for educational purposes only.