Psychosomatic Medicine 24:133-147 (1962)
© 1962 American Psychosomatic Society

Relationship Between Primary Lung Cancer and Peptic Ulcer in Males

¹ Department of Psychological Medicine (Southern General Hospital), University of Glasgow, Scotland

An account is given of an objective method by which particulars were obtained of a history of peptic ulcer and other psychosomatic conditions in male hospital patients admitted to two surgical chest units and one medical chest unit.

The material consists of 212 men subsequently diagnosed as suffering from lung cancer, 199 men found to have noncancerous conditions--the main controls--and 47 men admitted for treatment of a variety of psychosomatic conditions--the psychosomatic controls.

Significant differences between lung cancer patients and the main controls were confined to those in the age group between 45 and 64. The chief findings were as follows:

Peptic ulcer is more common in lung cancer patients, especially in the age group 45-54.

More lung cancer patients have histories of psychosomatic disorders other than peptic ulcer.

Nonarticular rheumatism, dermatitis, and neuroses are each more common in the lung cancer patients, the first two especially in the age group 55-64, and the third especially in the age group 45-54.

There is an association between cigarette smoking and lung cancer and also between cigarette smoking and peptic ulcer. There is no association between cigarette smoking and a history of past psychosomatic disorders other than peptic ulcer.

Adenocarcinomas, on the whole, tend to be associated with a greater proportion of peptic ulcer and other psychosomatic disorders than do the other histological types of lung cancer but the small number of such cancers prevents satisfactory comparison.

Lung-cancer patients show a broad similarity to the psychosomatic controls in the incidence of past psychosomatic disorders; they tend, however, to have had rather more peptic ulcers and rather less other psychosomatic conditions.

The implication of the findings is discussed in relation to cigarette smoking and to theories that chronic lung conditions generally predispose to lung cancer, and to theories that chronic lung conditions are associated with peptic ulcer.

It is concluded that the statistical association of lung cancer with peptic ulcer is more consistent with, though not proof of, a possible psychosomatic factor in the etiology of lung cancer than with other current theories.