Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

• A publication by the Journal of Thoracic Dieseases (JTC), NCBI, and Cancer Network, COPD is linked to a heightened risk of lung cancer in people who have never smoked.
• COPD is a preventable and treatable condition characterised by persistent respiratory symptoms and enhanced inflammatory response due to noxious particles and gases.
• JTC provided epidemiological evidence linking COPD and lung cancer.
• People with COPD are said to be at greater risk of lung cancer, which suggests that shared pathological mechanisms such as chronic inflammation, epigenetic changes, and impaired DNA repair processes as a result of oxidative stress.
• It also provided genetic and epigenetic mechanisms linking COPD and lung cancer.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)

• An NCBI publication opined that IPF increases the risk of developing lung cancer by 7% to 20%.
• The prevalence of LC in IPF patients ranges from 2.7% to 48%.
• According to a publication by the European Respiratory Journal, "Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) was reported to be associated with increased risk of lung cancer as a result of the occurrence of atypical or dysplastic epithelial changes in fibrosis which progressed to invasive malignancy."
• The cancer is said to develop in the area of major fibrosis.
• The study included "63% with combined lung cancer and IPF (IPF-CA), 218 patients with lone IPF, and 2,660 patients with primary lung cancer. All patients were diagnosed at Asan Medical Center during the same period."