Acta oncologica
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Background: In Denmark, lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the most common comorbidity in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of COPD and other common comorbidities on NSCLC mortality. Methods: Patients (n = 534) diagnosed with NSCLC at Aalborg University Hospital from 2008-2010 were included retrospectively in this study. ⋯ Log-rank test did not show statistically significant difference in survival between the COPD and non-COPD groups (p = .215). Multivariate Cox regression analysis did not show statistically significant association between overall 5-year mortality and the presence of COPD (HR-adj = 0.808, 95% CI = 0.612; 1.068) or other comorbidities (HR-adj = 1.101, 95% CI = 0.979; 1.237) when adjusted for age, BMI, gender, smoking exposure, ECOG performance status, treatment and TNM-stage. Conclusion: Our findings do not suggest that COPD nor other common comorbidities are significantly associated with higher mortality in NSCLC patients.