Estimation of survival rates in patients with lung cancer in West Azerbaijan, the northwest of Iran

Lung cancer is a fatal malignancy with high mortality and short survival time. The aim of this
study was to estimate survival rates of Iranian patients with lung cancer and its associate predictive factors.
Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 355 patients admitted to hospitals of West Azerbaijan in
the year 2007. The patients were followed up by phone calls until the end of June 2014. The survival rate was
estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test for comparison. The Cox’s proportional hazard
model was used to investigate the effect of various variables on patient survival time, including age, sex, Eastern
Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance, smoking status, tumor type, tumor stage, treatment,
metastasis, and blood hemoglobin concentration. Results: Of the 355 patients under study, 240 died and 115 were
censored. The mean and median survival time of patients was 13 and 4.8 months, respectively. According to the
results of Kaplan-Meier method, 1, 2, and 3 years survival rates were 39%, 18%, and 0.07%, respectively. Based
on Cox regression analysis, the risk of death was associated with ECOG group V (1.83, 95% CI: 1 Conclusions:
The survival time of the patients with lung cancer is very short. While early diagnosis may improve the life
expectancy effective treatment is not available.