A research team led by Prof. O Jung Kwon, Prof. Juhee Cho, Prof. Hye Yun Park, Prof. Danbee Kang

Never smokers with COPD are at high risk of lung cancer.

National sample cohort study involved about 340,000 subjects.

The study shows that never smokers with COPD have over 2.67 times the incidence of lung cancer.

 Prof. O Jung Kwon / Prof. Juhee Cho / Prof. Hye Yun Park / Research Prof. Danbee Kang

▷ Original News: https://www.metroseoul.co.kr/article/20200427500040

▷ Research article: https://thorax.bmj.com/content/early/2020/03/10/thoraxjnl-2019-213732.long

The study shows that COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) without having had a history of smoking can have a high incidence of lung cancer.

This cohort study, which had run for seven years, involved 338548 subjects, 40 to 84 years of age with no history of lung cancer, enrolled in the National Health Insurance Service National Sample Cohort.

A research team led by Prof. O Jung Kwon(Dept. of Pulmonology, Samsung Medical Center), Prof. Hye Yun Park; Prof. Juhee Cho; Prof. Danbee Kang (Dept. of Clinical Research and Evaluation, SAIHST, Sungkyunkwan University) has recently published an article in the latest edition of ‘Thorax(IF=10.307)’. After release, the study has gained considerable attention from world-renowned Medias such as Newsweek.

According to the research team, 1834 participants developed lung cancer. Compared to non-COPD patients, COPD patients have 3.12 times the incidence of lung cancer.

It also shows the same result putting aside from smoking, the leading cause of lung cancer. Compared to never smokers without COPD, never smokers with COPD have over 2.67 times the incidence of lung cancer. It proves that COPD is the leading cause of lung cancer.

Moreover, other research shows that one-third of COPD patients are non-smokers. It has also demonstrated the importance of research on non-smokers.

Therefore, this study emphasized whether to include COPD patients in subjects to lung cancer screening additionally. Korean National Cancer Center has conducted a lung cancer screening program for people who are aged 55 to 74 years with 30 pack-years or more of smoking-history since July 2019.

The research team stated that “Given that poor lung function in COPD is often a barrier to optimal lung cancer treatment due to increased risk of treatment-related morbidities.” The study also suggested that “Early detection of lung cancer in COPD patients may reduce the risk of treatment complications.”