Outcome and presenting characteristics were examined for all surgical patients (TS) (N = 35,689) and patients with presenting with ESR disease (N = 17,931) for whom sufficient information was collected to assess the outcome of treatment in relation to patient, economic, histopathologic, and insurance variables. Patients included in this investigation had NSCLC as their first primary cancer. Only microscopically confirmed tumors using NSCLC codes (8012-8014,8022,8031-8033,8046,8052,8070-8073,8082,8084,8123,8140,8200,8230,8250-8255,8260,8310,8333,8430,8470,8480-8481,8490,8550,8560,8972,8980) were included in this study.