BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVEEpidemiology of lung cancer will be changed along with time and region. The aim of this study is to acknowledge the tendency of primary lung cancer in hunan province in recent years by comparing and analyzing the distribution of gender, age, area, smoking and pathology of patients who were initial diagnosed lung cancer and ancestral or permanent residence of hunan province in 1997 and 2007.

METHODSClinical data of 908 patients with primary lung cancer hospitalized in Xiangya hospital were collected and evaluated.

RESULTSCompared patients in 2007 with those in 1997, ratio between male and female dropped from 3.8:1 to 2.98:1, while the proportion of young patients who were under 40 years old raised from 4.4% to 8.6% (chi2 = 4.465, P = 0.035), patients living in the county raised from 19.9% to 40.1% (chi2 = 30.670, P < 0.001), smoking rate of patients from county raised from 16.9% to 39.9% (chi2 = 24.939, P < 0.01). In addition, the proportion of rare histological types of lung cancer were also increased from 1.3% to 4.5% (chi2 = 5.142, P = 0.023).

CONCLUSIONFemale patients, young patients, rural patients and rare histological types of lung cancer may have a tendency of increase in hunan province in recent years, whereas smoking cessation education should be strengthened.