OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the telephone follow-up of surgery patients with lung cancer and to analyze the prognosis factors. METHODS: From October 2011 to January 2012, 1635 post-surgery lung cancer patients from January 2002 to August 2011 were followed up by telephone interview. The data from follow-up and clinical characteristics were collected and analyzed. Among these patients, 116 patients with complete and reliable clinical data were further analyzed to determine the effective factors of lung cancer metastasis and long-term survival. RESULTS: The average response rate in the follow-up was 36.1%, and the response rate was related to the interval time after the operations. The shorter the interval, the higher the response rate. The response rate in female patients was higher than that in male patients (P<0.001).The response rate was higher in patients younger than 40 (56 %) than that in the patients aged between 50-59 and over 60 (39% and 24% respectively, P<0.001). There was no statistical difference between patients from urban and rural areas (P=0.844). In the 116 patients with complete and reliable clinical data, statistical analysis confirmed that the metastasis and high lymph node staging were factors to increase patients' risk of death (with odd ratio 0.212 and 1.818 respectively, P<0.001). The adenocarcinoma grade, high lymph node staging and advanced age were related to the metastasis risk (odds ratio 2.353, 2.181 and 2.908, respectively). CONCLUSION Time, gender and age are the influencing factors in the telephone follow-up. Metastasis, lymph node metastasis, pathologic type and age are related to the lung cancer prognosis in the small-scale sample.
Adenocarcinoma ; surgery ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; surgery ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Period ; Prognosis ; Quality of Life ; Retrospective Studies ; Telephone ; Young Adult