Time-to-Progression of NSCLC from Early to Advanced Stages: An Analysis of data from SEER Registry and a Single Institute

The average time required for cancers to progress through stages can be reflected in the average age of the patients diagnosed at each stage of disease. To estimate the time it takes for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to progress through different tumor, node and metastasis (TNM) stages and sizes, we compared the mean adjusted age of 45904 NSCLC patients with different stages and tumor sizes from Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) cancer registry database and our institute. Multiple-linear-regression models for age were generated adjusting for various factors. Caucasian, African-American and Asian patients with stage IA cancers were on average 0.8, 1.0 and 1.38 adjusted years younger, respectively, than those with stage IIIB cancers (p