Abstract
BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is the most common malignancy and is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Thus, this disease severely threatens human health. This study aims to identify the relationships between serum albumin and urea level and the clinical pathological characteristics and survival time in patients with lung cancer. METHODS: A total of 1,098 patients with lung cancer were diagnosed by pathology and tested the serum albumin and urea level in West China Hospital of Sichuan University during January 2008 to December 2013. According to the levels of albumin and urea, patients were divided into the normal level group (negative group) and abnormal level group (positive group). The differences of patients' clinical pathological characteristics and survival time in the two groups were analyzed. RESULTS: Differences in age, sex, histological classification, liver metastasis and pleural metastasis were statistically significant between the two groups of serum albumin (P<0.05). Differences in age, intrapulmonary metastasis of 312 patients of squamous cell carcinoma and differences in age, sex, stages, pleural metastasis of 612 patients of adenocarcinoma between the two groups of serum albumin (P<0.05). There were no significant differences between the two groups of urea. In different histological classification between the two groups of serum albumin, the median survival period of squamous cell carcinoma was 36 months and 19 monthes, adenocarcinoma was 35 months and 15 monthes, the abnormal group were all significantly lower than those in the normal group. The median survival period was no significant difference between the two groups of urea. CONCLUSIONS: The level of serum albumin is an important indicator for prognosis.