Case Study
Trends In Lung Cancer Incidence
And Treatment Across The US
2019-2023
Background
We analyzed patterns in incidence, treatment, and patient characteristics including time to treatment, age, sex, race, stage, histological type, and geographical location in lung cancer patients utilizing data from the Q-Centrix Clinical Data Warehouse, a proprietary database of de-identified clinical data produced through expert-driven human abstraction.
Methods
24,360 lung cancer patients diagnosed from January of 2019 to December of 2023 were extracted from the Q-Centrix Clinical Data Warehouse. The data set used in this analysis contains de-identified patient data from 64 hospitals, health systems, and cancer centers across the United States. All patients diagnosed at these hospitals from 2019-2023 are included in this database. The data were analyzed by diagnosis year. Chi-square tests were run to compare differences in traits across the 4 diagnosis years. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered significant. Post-hoc pairwise chi-square tests were run with a Bonferroni correction to control for multiple tests. All statistical analysis was conducted in R version 4.4.0. The research protocol went through Q-Centrix’s formal review process, including review by an internal senior clinical research lead prior to the start of the analysis, as well as review by an external senior research specialist post-analysis.
Results
- The incidence of lung cancer diagnoses increased on average 4.5% per year from 2020 to 2022, followed by a 10% decrease in 2023 relative to 2022.
- More than 80% of patients diagnosed in any year are 60 years or older.
- Slightly more than half of all diagnoses are attributed to women, with exception to 2020, in which only 49.3% of all diagnoses were female. Additionally, with exception to 2020, there is a general increasing trend from 2019-2023 in the percentage of female patients diagnosed with lung cancer. At the beginning of the study in 2019, 50.4% of diagnoses were attributed to women, while at the end in 2023, 52.7% of all diagnoses are attributed to women, a 2.3% increase (p-value <0.01).
- An increasing proportion of lung cancer patients diagnosed at hospitals in the Midwest region is observed from 2020 to 2023. The proportion of lung cancer patients diagnosed in the Midwest region in 2023 is 3.7% higher than the proportion diagnosed in the Midwest in 2022 (p-value < 0.001).
- Additionally, the proportion of patients treated within 30 days of diagnosis decreases an average of 4.7% year over year from 2020-2023 (p value < 0.01).
3.70%
Increase in the proportion of overall diagnoses in the Midwest from 2022 to 2023
4.70%
Decrease in the proportion of patients being treated across the country within 30 days of diagnosis
Conclusion
This analysis portrays an increase in the proportion of lung cancer patient diagnoses in the Midwest region in recent years. Specifically, a 3.7% increase in the proportion of overall diagnoses in the Midwest from 2022 to 2023 is noted. We also observe an average year-over-year decrease of 4.7% in the proportion of patients being treated across the country within 30 days of diagnosis. Further investigation will evaluate treatment outcomes to assess the impact of the delay in time to treatment.
This abstract was originally published digitally as part of the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting.
