Healthcare Insights
Top 15 lung cancer diagnoses
Lung cancer is among the most common types of cancer in the U.S.
More than 540,000 living Americans had a lung cancer diagnosis during their lives, and there are nearly 237,000 new cases estimated for 2022. Advancements in early detection, additional treatment options, and people quitting smoking are helping to decrease cases.
Patients visit multiple specialists during cancer treatment, including oncologists and radiologists. Each encounter with a healthcare provider includes the patient’s primary diagnosis on the healthcare insurance claim, which results in the number of primary diagnosis claims being greater than the number of patients living with or newly diagnosed with cancer.
Using data from the Definitive Healthcare ClaimsMx product, we analyzed lung cancer ICD-10 codes to find the highest number of primary diagnoses for calendar year 2021.
| Rank | ICD-10 code | ICD-10 description | Number of primary diagnoses | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C3490 | Malignant neoplasm of unspecified part of unspecified bronchus or lung | 679,010 | Explore |
| 2 | C3411 | Malignant neoplasm of upper lobe, right bronchus or lung | 533,396 | Explore |
| 3 | C3412 | Malignant neoplasm of upper lobe, left bronchus or lung | 411,835 | Explore |
| 4 | C3491 | Malignant neoplasm of unspecified part of right bronchus or lung | 284,467 | Explore |
| 5 | C3431 | Malignant neoplasm of lower lobe, right bronchus or lung | 258,297 | Explore |
| 6 | C3432 | Malignant neoplasm of lower lobe, left bronchus or lung | 204,748 | Explore |
| 7 | C3492 | Malignant neoplasm of unspecified part of left bronchus or lung | 197,271 | Explore |
| 8 | C342 | Malignant neoplasm of middle lobe, bronchus or lung | 75,383 | Explore |
| 9 | C3481 | Malignant neoplasm of overlapping sites of right bronchus and lung | 53,411 | Explore |
| 10 | C3401 | Malignant neoplasm of right main bronchus | 42,820 | Explore |
| 11 | C3482 | Malignant neoplasm of overlapping sites of left bronchus and lung | 29,592 | Explore |
| 12 | C3402 | Malignant neoplasm of left main bronchus | 28,901 | Explore |
| 13 | C3410 | Malignant neoplasm of upper lobe, unspecified bronchus or lung | 17,739 | Explore |
| 14 | C3480 | Malignant neoplasm of overlapping sites of unspecified bronchus and lung | 16,359 | Explore |
| 15 | C3400 | Malignant neoplasm of unspecified main bronchus | 15,988 | Explore |
| 16 | C3430 | Malignant neoplasm of lower lobe, unspecified bronchus or lung | 6,775 | Explore |
Fig. 1 Data is from the Definitive Healthcare ClaimsMx product for calendar year 2021. Claims data is sourced from multiple medical claims clearinghouses in the United States and is updated monthly. Data is accurate as of July 2022.
What is the most common lung cancer diagnosis?
ICD-10 C3490 malignant neoplasm of unspecified part of unspecified bronchus or lung had the most primary diagnosis claims at 679,000. Another 533,000 claims were for C3411 malignant neoplasm of upper lobe, right bronchus or lung, and 411,800 claims for C3412 malignant neoplasm of upper lobe, left bronchus or lung.
The 15 codes on this list accounted for more than 2.8 million lung cancer diagnosis claims. They include claims for patients seeing their primary care providers or visiting their oncologist at a cancer center and discussing personalized treatment options.
What are the different kinds of lung cancer?
The two main types of lung cancer are:
- Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) – these types of cancer start from different types of lung cells but their treatment and outcomes are similar. About 80% of lung cancer cases are NSCLC, making it the more common form. Within NSCLC, there are three subtypes: adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and large cell carcinoma.
- Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) – is a faster-growing type of lung cancer that accounts for about 10% to 15% of lung cancer diagnoses. This type of cancer is usually related to cigarette smoking. The two subtypes of SCLC are: small cell carcinoma and combined small cell carcinoma.
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