Abstract
Objective. To evaluate the actual situation of medical care for elderly patients with lung cancer (elderly patients). Methods. We reviewed 537 lung cancer patients (our cases) who were treated in our department and lived in the Hokusetsu region between 1985 and 2000. We calculated the expected incidence of lung cancer patients in the Hokusetsu region (expected cases in the Hokusetsu region). We compared the rate of lung cancer patients over 75 years old among our cases and expected cases in the Hokusetsu region. In addition, we calculated the rate of lung cancer patients among Hokusetsu cases who were over 75 years of age and not receiving standard management for lung cancer. We calculated the predicted number of lung cancer patients between 2000 and 2020 in the Hokusetsu region and predicted the number of lung cancer patients over 75 years old without standard management. Results. The rate of lung cancer patients over 75 years old in our cases was 19.2%, which was significantly smaller than that (35.8%) in the expected cases in the Hokusetsu region (p<0.0001). The rate of lung cancer patients over 75 years old without standard management was calculated to be 57.4%. We predicted that the rate of lung cancer patients over 75 years old would increase from 32.0% in 1985 to 57.2% in 2000. It was predicted that lung cancer patients over 75 years old without standard management in 2020 would account for 32.9% of all lung cancer patients. Conclusion. The explosion of the number elderly patients with lung cancer in the future will cause a marked increase of elderly patients without standard management in the Hokusetsu region. It is necessary to start a new research project as soon as possible to seek standard management for elderly patients.
