Lung cancer mortality and associated predictors: systematic review using 32 scientific research findings

Lijalem Melie Tesfaw; Zelalem G Dessie; Haile Mekonnen Fenta

doi:10.3389/fonc.2023.1308897

Lung cancer mortality and associated predictors: systematic review using 32 scientific research findings

Front Oncol. 2023 Dec 14:13:1308897. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1308897. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Lijalem Melie Tesfaw^{1

2}, Zelalem G Dessie^{1

3}, Haile Mekonnen Fenta¹

Affiliations

¹ Departement of Statistics, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
² Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division, School of Public Health, Queensland University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
³ School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.

Abstract

Background: Cancer is a chronic disease brought on by mutations to the genes that control our cells' functions and become the most common cause of mortality and comorbidities. Thus, this study aimed to assess the comprehensive and common mortality-related risk factors of lung cancer using more than thirty scientific research papers.

Methods: Possible risk factors contributing to lung cancer mortality were assessed across 201 studies sourced from electronic databases, including Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, Web of Science (WOS), EMBASE, Medline/PubMed, the Lung Cancer Open Research Dataset Challenge, and Scopus. Out of these, 32 studies meeting the eligibility criteria for meta-analysis were included. Due to the heterogeneous nature of the studies, a random-effects model was applied to estimate the pooled effects of covariates.

Results: The overall prevalence of mortality rate was 10% with a 95% confidence interval of 6 and 16%. Twenty studies (62.50%) studies included in this study considered the ages of lung cancer patients as the risk factors for mortality. Whereas, eighteen (56.25%) and thirteen (40.63%) studies incorporated the gender and smoking status of patients respectively. The comorbidities of lung cancer mortality such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and pneumonia were also involved in 7 (21.90%), 6 (18.75%), 5 (15.63%), and 2 (6.25%) studies, respectively. Patients of older age are more likely to die as compared to patients of younger age. Similarly, lung patients who had smoking practice were more likely to die as compared to patients who hadn't practiced smoking.

Conclusion: The mortality rate of lung cancer patients is considerably high. Older age, gender, stage, and comorbidities such as cardiovascular, hypertension, and diabetes have a significant positive effect on lung cancer mortality. The study results will contribute to future research, management, and prevention strategies for lung cancer.

Keywords: global; lung cancer; mortality; predictors; systematic review.

Publication types

Systematic Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.