HOSPITAL-BASED SURVEY OF LUNG-CANCER IN TURKEY, A DEVELOPING-COUNTRY,WHERE SMOKING IS HIGHLY PREVALENT

While the trend of cigarette consumption in some developed countries i s on the decline, it has been noted that in many developing countries, smoking is on the increase. Compared to developed countries, there ar e more male smokers than female smokers in these countries. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and characteristics of t he smoking habit in patients having lung cancer (LC) and to find out i f there is any relationship with the smoking habit and the pathologica l diagnosis in our patient population. This hospital-based study was c arried out between 1990 and 1996 in two major medical centres. LC was diagnosed in 1046 patients, 966 of whom were males (93%), and the rema ining 80 (7%) of whom were females. Upon diagnosing the male patients, it was noted that 83% were current smokers (CS), 12% were ex-smokers (ES defined as abstinence from smoking at least for 1 year), and the r emaining 5% were non-smokers (NS). In the female population the findin gs were as follows, 16% were CS; 8% were ES, and 76% were NS. The peri od of abstinence in the ES was 10 years or less in 77% of the patients . Among the male patients, squamous cell carcinoma was the most common tumor type seen in the CS group (46%) while adenocarcinoma (45%) was the most commonly seen tumor in the NS group. On the other hand, in th e females, CS, the most commonly noted tumor types were small cell (54 %), and adenocarcinoma (39%) was most frequently found in NS group. Th ese results indicate that ES patients having LC in this study was quit e low. On the other hand, in contrast to the findings of many other st udies, from developed countries, the majority of male LC patients were in the CS group, however the majority of female LC patients were in t he NS group. This smoking habit data obtained from our LC patients sug gests that, similar to underdeveloped or developing countries, smoking cessation rates are very low in men during the past decade, and inter estingly smoking rates may increase in women in the near future in our country. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.