Epidemiological and therapeutic profiles of lung cancer patients in the Hokushin Region Japan: a retrospective hospital administrative database study

Objective This study was performed to validate the epidemiology, initial treatment, and clinical practice of lung cancer patients in the Hokushin region, Japan.

Methods We retrospectively surveyed data of 5503 newly diagnosed and registered lung cancer patients in 22 principal hospital-based cancer registries in Hokushin region linked with health insurance claims data for registered patients between 2016 and 2017.

Results The patients consisted of 3677 (66.8%) men and 1826 (33.2%) women with a mean (range) age of 72.2 (27–103) years).

Diagnoses were small cell lung cancer ( n  = 512, 9.4%), squamous cell carcinoma ( n  = 1083, 19.7%), and non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC; n  = 3906, 70.9%).

The population with stage I disease in Toyama prefecture (41.1%) was smaller than in the other three prefectures associated with reduced selection of initial surgical therapy and increased frequencies of stage IV disease (33.2%) and best supportive care (18.6%).

Initial chemotherapy for stage IV non-squamous NSCLC consisted of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in 39.3% of cases for EGFR and 4% of cases for ALK- positive non-squamous NSCLC, followed by platinum compounds (25.9%) non-platinum compounds (12.9%), and immune checkpoint inhibitors (10.2%).

Carboplatin was the commonly prescribed first-line cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agent (65.4% of patients under 75 years and in 96.7% of patients over 75 years).

Conclusion This study revealed real-world data on epidemiological and treatment status in lung cancer in four prefectures in Hokushin region, Japan.

Simultaneous analysis of nationwide registry and insurance data could provide valuable insights for the development of lung cancer screening and medical treatment strategies.

In addition, the comparative data analysis with other lesions or countries will be useful for evaluating the differences in clinical practice of cancer managements.