CHEST: Asthma Linked to Lung Cancer Development

Lung cancer prevalence twice as high among those with asthma as those without

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Asthma appears to be strongly associated with lung cancer development, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, held from Oct. 30 to Nov. 4 in Vancouver, Canada.

Vamsi P. Guntur, M.D., of the University of Missouri in Columbia, and colleagues evaluated 759 charts of patients with lung cancer and age- and sex-matched control subjects collected between 1998 and 2009.

The investigators found that the prevalence of lung cancer was 46.2 percent among the 13 patients with asthma, compared to 22.5 percent among the 746 patients without asthma, which was a significant difference (odds ratio, 2.9). In addition, an age-adjusted odds ratio of 5.7 also demonstrated a positive correlation between asthma and lung cancer.

"Data from The Cancer Registry in Central Missouri [suggest] a strong epidemiologic correlation between asthma diagnosis and lung cancer development. Chronic repeated inflammatory insults to the airways from asthma may be adequate to initiate carcinogenesis, although the mechanism(s) remain to be elucidated," the authors write.

Abstract
More Information

Related Stories

No stories found.
logo
www.healthday.com