ArticleCureus2026
Lung Cancer Disparities in the United States: The Role of Smoking, Comorbidities, Socioeconomic Status, and Regional Variation.
Article in Cureus, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background Lung cancer disproportionately affects certain racial and regional populations in the United States, with notable disparities observed among patients hospitalized with this diagnosis. This study examines disparities in clinical characteristics, socioeconomic distribution, and hospital outcomes among adults hospitalized with lung cancer. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed using the 2019-2020 National Inpatient Sample (NIS). Patients with a primary diagnosis of lung cancer were evaluated across racial groups and U.S. regions. Key variables included smoking status, comorbidity burden, length of stay (LOS), in-hospital mortality, and total hospital charges. Results White patients demonstrated the highest prevalence of smoking, whereas Black patients experienced the longest LOS. Hispanic patients had the highest total hospital charges. Regionally, lung cancer admissions were most common in the South, which also showed lower socioeconomic status and reduced access to screening. In unadjusted analyses, in-hospital mortality did not differ significantly by hospital region; however, after multivariable adjustment, patients hospitalized in the South had significantly lower odds of in-hospital mortality compared with those hospitalized in the Northeast. Socioeconomic status showed a graded association, with progressively lower mortality risk among patients in higher income quartiles. Conclusions Significant racial and regional disparities exist in lung cancer burden and hospital outcomes. Targeted interventions addressing socioeconomic barriers, screening inequities, and comorbidity management are needed to reduce these disparities.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.