INTRODUCTIONOsteosarcoma is the most prevalent malignant bone tumor in children and adolescents. An overall annual prevalence of 0.2-3 cases per 100,000 population has been reported. 1 Despite the rarity of osteosarcoma, it remains one of the deadliest cancers during the pubertal growth spurt. Lung metastases have been reported to be one of the challenging factors associated with a poor prognosis. 2 Approximately 20% of osteosarcoma patients present with metastatic disease at the time of the initial diagnosis. The most prevalent metastatic type is lung metastasis, which occurs in more than 80% of the cases. 3,4 Despite the development of novel treatments for osteosarcoma, 30-40% of these patients still relapse and the long-term post-relapse survival among these individuals has been reported to be less than 20%. 5,6 Undoubtedly, osteosarcoma patients can benefit from early diagnosis and treatment of metastases. Thus, a reasonable degree of lung metastasis screening for osteosarcoma patients at diagnosis is important. Male sex and the site involved (femur and tibia) were confirmed to be associate with greater occurrence of metastasis in a Mexican clinical trial. 7 The primary tumor size was reported to be a risk factor for lung metastasis among patients with osteosarcoma. 8,9 Currently, radiography is one of the most widely applied clinical screening strategies.However, radiography barely captures metastases until they physically form. Therefore, studies looking into the risk factors for lung metastasis occurrence among patients with osteosarcoma are warranted. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Osteosarcoma is the most prevalent malignant bone tumor in children and adolescents. Lung metastases are associated with poor prognosis. OBJECTIVE: The aim here was to explore the prevalence of and risk and prognostic factors for lung metastases in high-grade osteosarcoma patients. DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective cohort study based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database in the United States. METHODS: Data on 1,408 high-grade osteosarcoma patients registered in the SEER database between 2010 and 2015 were extracted. From these, all patients with high-grade osteosarcoma and initial lung metastasis were selected for analysis on risk and prognostic factors for lung metastases. Overall survival was estimated. RESULTS: There were 238 patients (16.90%) with lung metastases at diagnosis. Axial location, tumor size > 10 cm (odds ratio, OR 3.19; 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.58-6.45), higher N stage (OR 4.84; 95% CI: 1.94-12.13) and presence of bone metastases (OR 8.73; 95% CI: 4.37-17.48) or brain metastases (OR 25.63; 95% CI: 1.55-422.86) were significantly associated with lung metastases. Younger age and surgical treatment (hazard ratio, HR 0.46; 95% CI: 0.30-0.71) favored survival. Median survival was prolonged through primary tumor surgery. CONCLUSIONS:The factors revealed here may guide lung metastasis screening and prophylactic treatment for osteosarcoma patients. A primary tumor in an axial location, greater p...