History of tuberculosis as an independent prognostic factor for lung cancer survival

Introduction: It is well known that pulmonary tuberculosis is associated with an increased risk of lung cancer. We investigated whether a history of pulmonary tuberculosis is an independent risk factor for lung cancer survival in Caucasian patients. Methods: The data of the prospective population-based cohort of The Rotterdam Study were used. During a mean follow-up time of 18 years, there were 214 incident cases of pathology-proven lung cancer in a source population of 7983 study participants. History of tuberculosis was assessed at baseline by interviewers using standardized questionnaires. Associations of lung cancer survival with the occurrence of pulmonary tuberculosis were assessed using Cox's proportional hazard regression analysis adjusted for age, gender, pack-years, educational level and tumor stage. Results: A history of tuberculosis was reported in 13 of the 214 subjects with lung cancer. The survival of patients with lung cancer was significantly shorter in subjects with a history of pulmonary tuberculosis (HR = 2.36, CI95%: 1.1-4.9), than in subjects without a history of pulmonary tuberculosis with a mean difference of 311 days. Conclusion: The presence of a history of pulmonary tuberculosis may be an important prognostic factor in the survival of lung cancer.

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