CARCINOMA OF THE BRONCHUS IN THE YORKSHIRE REGION OF ENGLAND 1976-1990 - TRENDS SINCE 1984

We wished to confirm that, in patients with lung cancer, trends in dem ography and histology, together with modest improvements in survival, first seen in the 1976-1983 cohorts, continued to 1990. All lung cance r patients resident in Yorkshire are notified to the Cancer Registry, whose database was analysed for this report. A total of 38,275 patient s were notified, There was no change in annual notification for males but an increase from 513 to 815 annual notifications in females betwee n 1976 and 1990, Mean age increased by 3 yrs, in males to 67.4 yrs and in females to 67.2 yrs, Histological confirmation rate increased from 43% to 60% (mean age from 60.8 to 64.5 yrs), Annual notifications of adenocarcinoma increased consistently from 108 to 253, Two year surgic al survival improved from 37.4 to 44.3%, doubling in subjects aged gre ater than or equal to 70 yrs to 43.8%. Over the 15 year period, there was no improvement in survival aged <60 yrs, but a significant improve ment in the 60-69 and greater than or equal to 70 yrs age groups, Anal ysis of survival by quartiles showed significant improvement at all le vels (first interval 20 to 24 days, median 79 to 91 days, third interv al 224 to 266 days). The modest improvement in outlook was confirmed, confined to older subjects after 1983, and partially masked by increas ing age, Survival after surgery is now independent of age.