Histopathology of Lung Cancer in New Mexico, 1970–72 and 1980–81

In conjunction with a population-based case-control study of lung cancer in New Mexico, the histopathology of cases diagnosed during 1980 and 1981 and during 1970–72 was reviewed. Adequate histologic or cytologic material was obtained for 725 cases, with 308 during 1970–72 and 417 during 1980–81. The light microscopic histologie type was classified on the basis of review by 2 pathologists. No significant differences were found in the histologic-type distributions in Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites. In males, the distributions of histologic types were similar in the two time periods, but in non-Hispanic white women the proportion of adenocarcinoma declined during 1980–81 as the proportion of small cell carcinoma increased. The panel classification was compared with that recorded by the New Mexico Tumor Registry. Overall agreement was 52.1% for 1970–72 and increased to 65.2% for 1980–81. The discrepancies between the two classifications were largest for the categories of large cell undifferentiated carcinoma and “other malignancy.”.