Previous Lung Diseases and Lung Cancer Risk: A Pooled Analysis From the International Lung Cancer Consortium

Abstract

A history of emphysema conferred a 2.44-fold increased risk of lung cancer (95 confidence interval (CI): 1.64, 3.62 (16 studies)). A history of chronic bronchitis conferred a relative risk of 1.47 (95 CI: 1.29, 1.68 (13 studies)).

Tuberculosis (relative risk 1.48, 95 CI: 1.17, 1.87 (16 studies)) and pneumonia (relative risk 1.57, 95 CI: 1.22, 2.01 (12 studies)) were also associated with lung cancer risk. Among never smokers, elevated risks were observed for emphysema, pneumonia, and tuberculosis.

These results suggest that previous lung diseases influence lung cancer risk independently of tobacco use and that these diseases are important for assessing individual risk.

Keywords

• bronchitis
• chronic
• emphysema
• lung diseases
• lung neoplasms
• meta-analysis
• pneumonia
• pulmonary disease
• chronic obstructive
• tuberculosis
• obstructive pulmonary-disease
• environmental tobacco-smoke
• residential radon
• prediction model
• screening trial
• never-smokers
• inflammation
• association
• validation
• variants