The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: Tobacco-related comorbidities could exist at the same time as the primary condition, and can make a hospital stay more expensive and complicated. The aim of this study was to verify selected tobacco-related comorbidities in lung cancer patients.

Methods: This study is a component of an economic analysis of health care costs of tobacco-related diseases, which comorbidity and stage are prognostic factors of cost variations. The study population was drawn from a cancer hospital situated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We identified 398 subjects with newly lung cancer in 2000. The study data were obtained from a review of medical records. The inclusion criteria included: smoking status of the patient, number of cigarettes/day, smoking exposed time, and tumor data. The selected comorbidities were: myocardial infarction (MI), COPD, diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension, and none of these. The stages of lung cancer were subdivided in two groups: group 1 (G1): Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb; group 2 (G2): IIIa, IIIb, IV.

Results: 274 patients were selected. Sub-populations based on comorbidities and stage groups were created. The patients without, with one or more comorbidities at G2 were the most frequent. The frequency distribution of these sub-populations was:none, G1 (6,17%), G2 (93,83%);DM, G1 (20%), G2 (80%);hypertension, G1 (5,56%), G2 (94,44%);MI, G1 (20%), G2 (80%);COPD, G1 (11,54%), G2 (88,46%); DM and hypertension, G1 (12,5%), G2 (87,5%);COPD and hypertension, G2 (100%);COPD, DM, hypertension, G2 (100%);DM and hypertension, G1 (12,5%), G2 (85,5%);MI, COPD, hypertension, G2 (100%).