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BTOG 2026 | Late-stage diagnosis and survival trends in never-smoker lung cancer
Sindhu Naidu, MBBS, University College London, London, UK, discusses the initial data from the National Lung Cancer Registry, highlighting that the majority of never-smokers with lung cancer, are diagnosed at a late stage, with factors such as being younger and male associated with late-stage diagnosis. The data emphasizes the importance of stage in determining the risk of dying from lung cancer, with every one-stage increase doubling the risk, and older people, males, and certain ethnicities are more likely to die from lung cancer, even when adjusted for stage. This interview took place at the 2026 British Thoracic Oncology Group (BTOG) congress in Edinburgh, UK.
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Transcript
Yeah, so really pleased that I got to present some initial data. So I’m a respiratory registrar doing my PhD, sponsored by the NIHR Doctoral Fellowship and the Ruth Strauss Foundation. And we got some data from the National Lung Cancer Registry, which I think is the largest cohort of never-smokers with lung cancer in Europe. So we’ve got about 10,000 people who have never smoked with lung cancer and the majority of whom are women, so about 66 percent – 84 percent of whom are white, which is actually a bit less than we would expect when we compare to the ethnic makeup of the UK – and really crucially, two-thirds, so about 66 percent, are diagnosed at a late stage, stage three and four...
Yeah, so really pleased that I got to present some initial data. So I’m a respiratory registrar doing my PhD, sponsored by the NIHR Doctoral Fellowship and the Ruth Strauss Foundation. And we got some data from the National Lung Cancer Registry, which I think is the largest cohort of never-smokers with lung cancer in Europe. So we’ve got about 10,000 people who have never smoked with lung cancer and the majority of whom are women, so about 66 percent – 84 percent of whom are white, which is actually a bit less than we would expect when we compare to the ethnic makeup of the UK – and really crucially, two-thirds, so about 66 percent, are diagnosed at a late stage, stage three and four. And then when we look at sort of factors that are associated with the late-stage diagnosis, and the reason why late-stage diagnosis is so important is because when you’re diagnosed late, you’re far more likely to die from lung cancer, and the factors that are associated with that late-stage diagnosis are being younger and being male. And then when we look at even when we adjust for stage, when we look at factors associated with dying from lung cancer when you’re a never-smoker, we have older people, male, and interestingly, people from Asian, black, and other ethnicities are less likely to die from lung cancer. Really, really crucially, stage is very important. So with every one increase in stage, for example, stage one to two, you double your risk of dying from lung cancer as a never-smoker. And I think that’s really important. So we know that the majority of never-smokers are being diagnosed at a late stage when they don’t have any early diagnosis interventions in the UK. This is something that we really need to do something about.
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