Table 1. Descriptive characteristics of first primary lung cancer patients from 13 cancer registries.

	Squamous cell carcinoma				Small cell carcinoma				Adenocarcinoma excluding bronchioalveolar
	Women		Men		Women		Men		Women		Men
	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
Total	20 468		113 197		15 639		37 663		27 502		44 090
Age at diagnosis (year)
<56	2990	14.61	15 128	13.36	2865	18.32	6577	17.46	6903	25.10	8528	19.34
56–65	6021	29.42	37 568	33.19	5188	33.17	12 960	34.41	8088	29.41	14 395	32.65
66–74	7184	35.10	40 731	35.98	5227	33.42	12 553	33.33	7669	27.89	14 225	32.26
75+	4273	20.88	19 770	17.47	2359	15.08	5573	14.80	4842	17.61	6942	15.75
Calendar period at diagnosis
∼1975	1966	9.61	25 719	22.72	555	3.55	4590	12.19	2779	10.10	5444	12.35
1975–1983	4933	24.10	33 279	29.40	3371	21.56	10 399	27.61	5428	19.74	10 350	23.47
1984–1990	6318	30.87	29 442	26.01	5278	33.75	11 958	31.75	8175	29.73	13 281	30.12
1991∼	7251	35.43	24 757	21.87	6435	41.15	10 716	28.45	11 120	40.43	15 015	34.06
Follow-up period
<12 months	13 342	65.18	69 243	61.17	11 168	71.41	28 757	76.35	17 899	65.08	20 704	46.96
1–4 year	5408	26.42	33 111	29.25	3921	25.07	7963	21.14	7129	25.92	10 260	23.27
5–9 year	959	4.69	5833	5.15	298	1.91	518	1.38	1407	5.12	1817	4.12
10+ year	759	3.71	5010	4.43	252	1.61	425	1.13	1067	3.88	1309	2.97
Registries
Australia, NSW (1972–1997)	2076	10.14	10 893	9.62	2032	12.99	5076	13.48	2517	9.15	5331	12.09
Canada, British Columbia (1970–1998)	2313	11.30	7169	6.33	2092	13.38	3173	8.42	3617	13.15	4499	10.20
Canada, Manitoba (1970–1998)	675	3.30	3004	2.65	649	4.15	1241	3.30	1180	4.29	1766	4.01
Canada, Saskatchewan (1967–1998)	409	2.00	1924	1.70	267	1.71	760	2.02	571	2.08	783	1.78
Denmark (1943–1997)	3891	19.01	21 299	18.82	2926	18.71	5682	15.09	5762	20.95	7611	17.26
Finland (1953–1998)	1386	6.77	19 914	17.59	1177	7.53	8283	21.99	2027	7.37	5221	11.84
Iceland (1955–2000)	152	0.74	340	0.30	173	1.11	224	0.59	324	1.18	289	0.66
Norway (1953–1999)	1591	7.77	10 374	9.16	1875	11.99	4695	12.47	3032	11.02	5333	12.10
Singapore Chinese (1968–1992)	504	2.46	2697	2.38	185	1.18	793	2.11	994	3.61	1550	3.52
Slovenia (1961–1998)	303	1.48	5853	5.17	207	1.32	1073	2.85	774	2.81	1551	3.52
Spain, Zaragoza (1978–1998)	56	0.27	1975	1.74	17	0.11	696	1.85	101	0.37	635	1.44
Sweden (1961–1998)	2223	10.86	12 023	10.62	0	0.00	0	0.00	3971	14.44	5535	12.55
UK, Scotland (1975–1996)	4889	23.89	15 732	13.90	4039	25.83	5967	15.84	2632	9.57	3986	9.04