What are the clinical symptoms and physical signs for non-small cell lung cancer before diagnosis is made? A nation-wide multicenter 10-year retrospective study in China.

The symptoms and physical signs of lung cancer were associated with the stage and pathological diagnosis of NSCLC. Patients with squamous carcinoma were more likely to develop symptoms, but not signs, than patients with adenocarcinoma. The more advanced the stage at diagnosis, the more likely that symptoms or physical signs are to develop. Further prospective cohort studies are needed to explore these results.