Disparities Remain in Lung Cancer Deaths Associated With Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases

Lung cancer deaths associated with chronic lower respiratory diseases significantly decreased between 1999 and 2020 in the United States, but disparities among groups remain, according to a recent study.

The study, published in Lung by a team from Harvard Medical School, was conducted because patients with chronic lower respiratory diseases are at a “higher risk of lung cancer” but “less is known regarding how the risk of [chronic lower respiratory disease]-associated lung cancer death might have changed on a national scale over the past 20 years across demographic and regional groups.”

The researchers addressed the question by calculating age-adjusted mortality rates for lung cancer death among people with chronic lower respiratory disease. They used the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention WONDER database to collect data from 1999 to 2020.

The study showed that the rates of lung cancer death among people with chronic lower respiratory disease “were highest among White Americans compared to other racial groups.” The researchers found “elevated rates” of lung cancer death among men compared to women, with an age-adjusted mortality rate of 25.054 (95% CI, 24.960–25.148). In addition, those aged 65 years or older also had higher rates of lung cancer death, with an age-adjusted mortality rate of 44.776 (95% CI, 44.638–44.913).

Certain regions of the country also had higher rates of lung cancer death than others. For example, the rates were higher in the Midwest (age-adjusted mortality rate ratio, 1.410; 95% CI, 1.401–1.418) and the South (age-adjusted mortality rate ratio, 1.290; 95% CI, 1.282–1.298) compared to the Northeast. In addition, lung cancer mortality rates were elevated in rural areas, with an age-adjusted mortality rate of 1.444 (95% CI, 1.438–1.451).

Based on these findings, the study authors concluded that “despite this progress” in reducing lung cancer deaths associated with chronic lower respiratory diseases in recent years, older adults, people in rural areas, White people, and men “continue to experience higher CLRD-associated lung cancer mortality rates than their counterparts.”

Source: Lung