Racial and sex differences in presentation and outcomes of small cell lung cancer in the United States: 1973 to 2010.

A total of 94,7463 patients with lung cancer were identifi ed between 1973 and 2010 ( Tables 1 , 2 ). Th e proportion of SCLC to total lung cancers decreased over the years along with the sex gap; the ratio of men to women decreased from 2.69:1 in 1973 to 1:1 in 2010. Th e fi ndings were consistent between both black and white patients. Th e incidence of SCLC compared with all lung cancer was consistently higher in whites compared with the black population. Th ere were no diff erences in the stage at presentation between blacks and whites (24.17% vs 23.1% pre sented in limited stage and 53.68% vs 52.55% presented in extensive stage, respectively; P 5 .343). Women presented with limited-stage disease more oft en than men (26.28% vs 20.75%, respectively; P .0001); this diff erence was consistent in white (26.22% vs 20.4%, P , .0001) as well as black subgroups (26.79% vs 22.15%, P 5 .0184). Blacks pre sented at a younger age compared with whites. Some 48.45% of blacks presented with SCLC before the age of 65 years compared with 39.49% of whites. Th ere were no diff erences in the age of presentation between sexes in either blacks or whites. Although there were no diff erences in mortality between races, survival analysis showed that women had a better cancer-specifi c survival than men (Kaplan-Meier curves) ( Fig 1 ). Th is fi nding was consistent in both whites and blacks ( P .0001).