Tobacco use in lung cancer (LC) patients (p) in Spain

Background Tobacco use, mainly as cigarette smoking, is the leading cause of lung cancer. Eighty-five percent of LC occur in smokers. Understanding the Spanish smoking habits allows the government to design health care policies against this consumption. To do so, the Grupo Espanol de Cancer de Pulmon (Spanish Lung Cancer Group) made this analysis within the context of the Thoracic Tumor Registry (TTR). Methods The TTR is an observational cohort multicenter study in Spain. The study is conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the institutional review board of each participating site. The registry was approved by the Spanish Drug Agency, as a non-post-authorization, non-interventional study. Results Data have been collected from 6,600 LC from 58 different hospital sites across Spain. 12% (866 p) were non-smokers, 46% (3,039 p) were former smokers and 39% (2,611 p) were smokers. There were significant differences by gender, more women were non-smokers (37 % vs. 45% in males), meanwhile more former smokers were male (53.4% vs. 27.9% in women) (p-valor Conclusions Tobacco use is the leading cause of LC in Spain accounting 85% of the cases. Consumption has increased in both genders, but specially in women, in our country among lung cancer patients. Tobacco cessation campaigns, especially in women, should be a priority in western countries, like Spain, and it has to be adapted to regional differences in tobacco use. Clinical trial identification NCT02941458. Legal entity responsible for the study Spanish Lung Cancer Group. Funding Novartis, MSD, Lilly. Disclosure M. Provencio: Advisory / Consultancy: BMS; Advisory / Consultancy, Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: MSD; Advisory / Consultancy, Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: AstraZeneca; Advisory / Consultancy: Boehringer Ingelheim. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.