Impact of Prior Cancer History on Outcomes of Resected Lung Cancer

Background Previous studies concerning the impact of prior cancer on newly diagnosed lung cancer are mainly based on databases and obtained mixed results. Utilizing a large study population, we aimed to reveal this impact. Patients and Methods Lung cancer patients from January 2008 to April 2021 were enrolled. The Kaplan–Meier method was used to perform survival analyses. To investigate the impact of prior cancer, a Cox proportional hazards model was conducted. To minimize the influence of the heterogeneity of prior cancer, stratified analyses were carried out. Results In total, 17,423 lung cancer patients were reviewed, among which we identified 1469 (8.4%) patients with a history of prior cancer. Cox regression analysis revealed that prior cancer was an independent poor prognostic factor on overall survival (HR = 1.430, 95% CI: 1.147–1.784, p = 0.001) but did not affect lung cancer-specific survival (HR = 1.120, 95% CI: 0.876–1.434, p = 0.366). Interestingly, in further stratified analyses, we found that prior cancer history affected overall survival only in pTNM stage 0/I patients (HR = 1.670, 95% CI: 1.247–2.237, p = 0.001), but not in pTNM stage II/III/IV patients (HR = 1.237, 95% CI: 0.877–1.743, p = 0.226). Similarly, prior cancer was an independent poor prognostic factor on overall survival only for pN0 patients. Subsequently, subgroup analyses indicated that the impact of prior cancer varied in pTNM stage 0/I patients according to the type of prior cancer and the interval time. Conclusions Considering that prior cancer affects overall survival in patients with clinically curable lung cancer, clinicians should pay attention to this effect and improve the management of these patients to achieve a better prognosis.