Gender difference in age, risk factors and histological characteristics of lung cancer patients, presented to the Respiratory Unit of Teaching Hospital Kandy Dassanayake DLB1 , Gannoruwa K M C S 2, Senevirathna H M K P1, Wickramasekara K1, Siribaddana A1 Respiratory Unit1, Radiology Unit2, Teaching Hospital Kandy Background Methods lung cancer is rare among females in Sri Lanka (incidence - 3 per 100000 population Vs males - 12 per 100000) Differences in the two populations could lead to differences in patient characteristics Study setting - Respiratory Unit Teaching Hospital Kandy Duration - 30/4/2010 to 31/3/2011. Ethical clearance - by the ethical committee of the Teaching Hospital Kandy. Sample – Consecutive patients with histologically proven lung cancer. Age, histological type, risk factors (tobacco smoking , fire wood smoke) – recorded Males and females - compared using Chi square and Fishers Exact test. Significance level - p value < 0.05 Objective To describe the gender differences in age, risk factors and histological characteristics of lung cancer patients. Discussion Results Female lung cancer patients were younger in age compared to males. could be due to early exposure to risk factors in females or neglect of symptoms by males Active tobacco smoking was the major risk factor in males while exposure to fire wood smoke was the major risk factor among females. Compared to females, squamous carcinoma was more prevalent among males while adenocarcinoma was more prevalent among females – could be related to higher prevalence of tobacco smoking among males . Small cell carcinoma was not found in females of this series – ( could be due to small sample). Whether age and histological differences are related to possible risk factor differences needs further investigation. Total patients - 62 Age difference Male Female Significance number 50 (80.7%) 12 (19.3%) Age< 50 4 (8%) 5 (41%) Chi-6.33, p=0.011* Age>/= 50 46 (92%) 7 (59%) Conclusion Males and female lung cancer patients differ significantly with regard to age at presentation exposure to risk factors histological types. References 1 Ferguson MF, Skosey C, Hoffman PC, et al. Sex-associated differences in presentation and survival in patients with lung cancer. J Clin Oncol 1990; 8:1402–1407 2 Cancer control program: Cancer incidence data by histological type. In Cancer incidence data Sri Lanka year 2001 – 2005: Cancer control program, Ministry of Health Sri Lanka; 2005: 35 – 45. 3 Maxwell P, Freddie B, Jacques F, Paola P. Estimating world cancer burden. Int. J. Cancer 2001; 94: 153–156.