ABSTRACT
Background: Lung cancer is the main cause of death from cancer in the world. The 5-year survival is about 15%. Despite the progress of medicine the mortality rate decreased only marginally. This poor prognosis is due to late diagnosis
Aim: To evaluate overall survival and prognostic factors in patients locally advanced or metastatic non small cell lung cancer [NSCLC]
Methods: Retrospective study including 180 patients with non-small cell lung cancer hospitalized in the department of Charles Nicolle Hospital of Tunis between January 2007 and December 2014
Results: The mean age was 61.5 years with a male predominance [93.3%]. The median overall survival was 6 months. The poor prognostic factors were the performans status [PS] and early delays of management [<30 days]. The factors that improve survival were surgical treatment and delays of management more than 45 days
Conclusion: The prognostic factors in locally advanced and metastatic NSLC in our patient were: PS, management delay and treatment. These factors should be considered in management of patient with advanced stage NSCLC
ABSTRACT
Background: The spread of smoking among women in Tunisia has reached alarming proportions because of increasing smoker rate, the younger age of smoking initiation and therefore its duration
Aim: Identify predictors of success or failure of smoking cessation, Methods: we conducted a retrospective study [January 2008-June 2011], including 101 female smokers [19.8%] among 510 smokers of both sexes undergoing smoking cessation interventions. Univariate and multivariate analysis between groups of smokers who succeeded and who failed smoking cessation was performed
Results: Average age of our patients was 44 years. The overall success rate at 6 months and 1 year were respectively 24.7 and 18.8%. In univariate analysis, a statistically significant difference in terms of successful weaning was observed in smokers who had a late age of smoking onset [after 20 years] [p = 0.03], respiratory or cardiovascular comorbidities associated [p = 0.03] and good adhesion to the consultation [p = 0.02]. In multivariate analysis only the presence of a tobacco-related disease [OR: 4.43, 95% CI [1.29- 15.17], p = 0.01] and adherence to the consultation [OR 5.02 95% CI [1.29 -19.39], p = 0.01] were significantly associated with a good prognosis for successful weaning at 6 months and one year. A possible but not significantly associated with age of smoking initiation was observed [OR = 0.3 95% CI [0.08 - 1.07], p = 0.06]
Conclusion: Beyond validated smoking cessation and prolonged follow-up, a differential approach, taking into account women specificities, would increase the chances of quitting smoking