Latest study results show COPD is not an independent risk factor for lung cancer
A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Nottingham has determined that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is not an independent risk factor for lung cancer.
The study, published in the January 2013 issue of Journal of Thoracic Oncology, examined patients with lung cancer between January 2000 and July 2009 from The Health Improvement Network, a general practice database in the United Kingdom.
Researchers, “found evidence of a strong association between COPD and lung cancer, but this was largely explained by the effect of smoking and is most apparent in recently diagnosed cases of COPD, suggesting a strong element of ascertainment bias.”
Lead author Dr Helen Powell continues by saying that there is “an extremely strong unadjusted relationship between both COPD and pneumonia and lung cancer in the 6 months immediately before lung cancer diagnosis. This is useful in a clinical context, highlighting the need to consider a diagnosis of lung cancer when making new diagnoses of COPD or pneumonia.”
Study researchers endorse the current recommendations of the American Thoracic Society and the UK National Institute for Health Research, which state that, at the time of COPD diagnosis, all patients receive a chest radiograph in the search for evidence of lung cancer.
Source: IASLC.