Background: On April 15, 2021, the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database released the latest lung cancer follow-up data. We selected 922,317 lung cancer patients diagnosed from 2000 to 2017 for survival analysis to provide updated data for lung cancer researchers.
Research Question: This study explored the latest trends of survival time in terms of gender, race, nationality, age, income, address, histological type and primary site.
Study Design and Methods: The SEER database covers 27.8% of the US population. We used life table, Kaplan–Meier, log-rank, Breslow and Tarone-Ware tests to calculate survival rate, time, and curve and to compare differences in survival distribution. We performed univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards analyses.
Results: The median survival time of all lung cancer patients diagnosed in 2017 increased by 41.72% compared to 2000. Median survival time of female patients diagnosed in 2017 increased by 70.94% compared to 2000. Median survival time of those diagnosed in 2017 for different primary sites was as follows: right middle lobe was the longest, then left lower lobe, right upper lobe, right lower lobe, and left upper lobe. Lung cancer patients older than 75 years had a significantly shorter median survival time. Patients living in metropolitan areas of 250,000 to 1 million had a longer median survival time. Median survival time in the adenocarcinoma group was significantly greater than other patients. Median survival of Asian and other races diagnosed in 2017 was 97.87% higher than those diagnosed in 2000. Survival rate of lung cancer increased gradually with the year of diagnosis.
Interpretation: The rapid improvement of the prognosis of female and young lung cancer patients contributes to the improvement of the overall prognosis. Primary lung cancer in the right middle lobe has the best prognosis.
Keywords: Cox regression analysis, Kaplan Meier survival analysis, lung cancer, prognosis, SEER