Table 1.
Clinical and demographic characteristics of the lung cancer and the head and neck cancer patients and the control group.
| Clinical and Demographic Characteristics | Control Group n = 50 |
Lung Cancer n = 33 |
Head and Neck Cancer n = 28 |
p-Value * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age, years | 42 (35–47) | 72 (65–79) | 65 (56–73) | <0.001 |
| Male sex, n (%) | 25 (50.0) | 26 (78.8) | 25 (89.3) | <0.001 |
| Alcohol habit (>20 g/day), n (%) | 15 (30.0) | 8 (24.2) | 11 (39.3) | 0.042 |
| Smoking, n (%) Current smoker Former smoker |
17 (34.0) 0 (0.0) |
14 (42.4) 17 (51.5) |
16 (57.1) 6 (21.4) |
<0.001 |
| Hypertension, n (%) | 4 (8.0) | 19 (57.6) | 17 (60.7) | <0.001 |
| Type 2 diabetes mellitus, n (%) | 5 (10.0) | 10 (30.3) | 6 (21.4) | 0.085 |
| Cancer stage, n (%) | ||||
| Stage I | − | 14 (42.4) | 5 (17.9) | − |
| Stage II | − | 4 (12.1) | 5 (17.9) | − |
| Stage III | − | 15 (45.5) | 5 (17.9) | − |
| Stage IV | − | 0 (0.0) | 13 (46.3) | − |
| Histology, n (%) | ||||
| Squamous carcinoma | − | 18 (54.5) | 26 (92.9) | − |
| Adenocarcinoma | − | 13 (39.4) | 1 (3.6) | − |
| Others | − | 2 (6.0) | 1 (3.6) | − |
| Chemotherapy treatment, n (%) | − | 18 (54.5) | 17 (60.7) | − |
| Secondary effects of radiotherapy, n (%) | ||||
| Epithelitis | − | 24 (72.7) | 25 (89.3) | − |
| Lung toxicity | − | 25 (75.8) | − | − |
| Xerostomia | − | − | 22.0 (78.6) | − |
| Mucositis | − | − | 20.0 (71.4) | − |
| Esophagitis | − | − | 6.0 (21.5) | − |
* Age is shown as medians and interquartile ranges (in parenthesis). Statistical analyses were performed by the χ-square test, except for age, that was done by the Mann-Whitney U-test.