Profile of lung cancer in predominantly Bidi smoking rural population of northern Himachal Pradesh.

BACKGROUND Lung cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among both genders. The histopathological patterns of lung cancer in different parts of India appear to be variable. OBJECTIVE To study the profile of lung cancer in northern Himachal Pradesh. METHODS Patients of all age groups and either gender with history and complaints suggestive of lung cancer were subjected to further investigations to study the histopathological types of lung cancer over a period of 14 months. RESULTS Out of 105 histopathologically confirmed patients with lung cancer (mean age 62.7 +/- 11.6 years; 96 males), 89.5% were "ever smokers" and 82.9% were "current smokers"; 92% of current smokers were bidi smokers. Most common presenting complaints were chest pain (46.7%) and cough (35.2%). Mean duration of longest presenting complaint was 64 days. The histopathological types included squamous cell carcinoma (37.1%), adenocarcinoma (36.2%), small cell carcinoma (8.6%), un-classifiable (16.2%), and other types (1.9%). CONCLUSIONS Majority of the lung cancer patients in northern Himachal Pradesh were bidi smoking males from rural areas and the incidence of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma is almost equal.