Table 3.
Clinical characteristics of male lung and bronchus cancer patients by occupation: Florida Cancer Data System (1981–2014).
| Characteristics | All patients | Occupation | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-firefighters | Firefighters | Firefighters | ||||||||
| Career | Volunteer | |||||||||
| N | Col% | N | Col% | N | Col% | N | Col% | N | Col% | |
| All patients | 210,541 | 100.0 | 209,780 | 100.0 | 761 | 100.0 | 604 | 100.0 | 157 | 100.0 |
| SEER stage | ||||||||||
| Localized | 34,078 | 16.2 | 33,959 | 16.2 | 119 | 15.6 | 99 | 16.4 | 20 | 12.7 |
| Regional | 49,236 | 23.4 | 49,011 | 23.4 | 225 | 29.6 | 182 | 30.1 | 43 | 27.4 |
| Distant | 98,403 | 46.7 | 98,045 | 46.7 | 358 | 47.0 | 274 | 45.4 | 84 | 53.5 |
| Unknown | 28,824 | 13.7 | 28,765 | 13.7 | 59 | 7.8 | 49 | 8.1 | 10 | 6.4 |
| Surgery received | ||||||||||
| No | 163,357 | 77.6 | 162,803 | 77.6 | 554 | 72.8 | 430 | 71.2 | 124 | 79.0 |
| Yes | 45,996 | 21.8 | 45,793 | 21.8 | 203 | 26.7 | 171 | 28.3 | 32 | 20.4 |
| Unknown | 1,188 | 0.6 | 1,184 | 0.6 | <10 | – | <10 | – | <10 | – |
| Radiation received | ||||||||||
| No | 125,864 | 59.8 | 125,443 | 59.8 | 421 | 55.3 | 336 | 55.6 | 85 | 54.1 |
| Yes | 80,206 | 38.1 | 79,886 | 38.1 | 320 | 42.0 | 252 | 41.7 | 68 | 43.3 |
| Unknown | 4,471 | 2.1 | 4,451 | 2.1 | 20 | 2.6 | 16 | 2.6 | <10 | – |
| Chemotherapy received | ||||||||||
| No | 134,619 | 63.9 | 134,224 | 64.0 | 395 | 51.9 | 321 | 53.1 | 74 | 47.1 |
| Yes | 70,387 | 33.4 | 70,051 | 33.4 | 336 | 44.2 | 263 | 43.5 | 73 | 46.5 |
| Unknown | 5,535 | 2.6 | 5,505 | 2.6 | 30 | 3.9 | 20 | 3.3 | 10 | 6.4 |
| Histology | ||||||||||
| NSCLC | 148,986 | 70.8 | 148,413 | 70.7 | 573 | 75.3 | 455 | 75.3 | 118 | 75.2 |
| SCLC | 29,621 | 14.1 | 29,511 | 14.1 | 110 | 14.5 | 85 | 14.1 | 25 | 15.9 |
| Unspecified/unknown | 31,934 | 15.2 | 31,856 | 15.2 | 78 | 10.2 | 64 | 10.6 | 14 | 8.9 |
| Vital status | ||||||||||
| Alive/dead—other causes | 42,209 | 20.0 | 42,013 | 20.0 | 196 | 25.8 | 157 | 26.0 | 39 | 24.8 |
| Dead—primary diagnosis | 168,332 | 80.0 | 167,767 | 80.0 | 565 | 74.2 | 447 | 74.0 | 118 | 75.2 |
All p-values for comparing firefighters vs. non-firefighters and also for comparing career firefighters vs. volunteer firefighters vs. non-firefighters are less than 0.05, i.e., statistically significant, except the following: Histology was not significant by occupation: firefighters vs. non-firefighters (p > 0.05); radiation and histology were not significant by occupation: career firefighters vs. volunteer firefighters vs. non-firefighters (p > 0.05). Vital status is based on incidence cases from 1981 to 2014 with passive follow-up up to 31 December 2019, where death was due to lung and bronchus cancer.
SEER, Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program; NSCLC, non-small cell lung cancer; SCLC, small cell lung cancer; –, sample size less than 10 not reported due to confidentiality rules.