Inflammatory diseases and risk of lung cancer among individuals who have never smoked
Lung cancer in never-smokers (LCINS) is a leading cause of cancer death globally, but no screening programs for LCINS exist. To identify medical conditions that could serve as markers of LCINS risk, we conducted a nested case-control study within the United Kingdom's Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD-GOLD), consisting of 1581 LCINS cases and 14,318 never-smoking controls. Conditions significantly associated with LCINS 1-10 years before the index date were validated in an independent dataset, CPRD-Aurum (2188 LCINS cases, 19,597 never-smoking controls). These conditions include Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease/Emphysema (COPD); gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD); bronchitis and tracheitis; diabetes mellitus type 1; and gastritis and non-infective gastroenteritis and colitis. Adjusting for medication use only slightly attenuated these associations. Overall, inflammatory diseases appear to be important in LCINS pathogenesis although further studies need to confirm these associations. Conditions such as GERD or COPD could be considered as part of eligibility criteria for future LCINS screening programs.
Authors
- Thi‐Van‐Trinh Tran (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3132-9055)
- Michael Kebede (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0785-292X)
- Monica D’Arcy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1586-9089)
- Youjin Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5841-4183)
- Ruth M. Pfeiffer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7791-2698)
- John McElderry
- Marie C. Bradley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-4414)
- Shahinaz M. Gadalla (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3255-8143)
- S Rivas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0424-7970)
- Phuc H. Hoang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-8525)
- Curt T. DellaValle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6616-8904)
- Mengying Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4699-5010)
- Maria Teresa Landi
Institutions
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Rutgers Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (NL)
- National Cancer Institute (US)
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-06-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56803-z
- Citations
- 6
- Primary Topic
- Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 11.27
Funders
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- National Institutes of Health
- Gillings School of Public Health
- National Cancer Institute
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute