Study Looks at Survival in Metastatic NSCLC Treated With Immunotherapy

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 13, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) receiving immunotherapy, outcomes are similar across racial and ethnic groups, but ECOG performance status (PS) is associated with survival, according to a study published online Dec. 11 in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

Matthew Lee, M.D., M.P.H., from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study of 5,920 patients diagnosed with lung cancer treated from Jan. 1, 2013, to June 1, 2022. A total of 248 patients (39.1, 30.2, and 30.7 percent non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White, respectively) with metastatic NSCLC without EGFR, ALK, or ROS1 alterations who underwent first-line immunotherapy were followed for a median of 12.0 months.

The researchers found that overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and time to discontinuation (TTD) were similar among racial and ethnic groups. Longer OS was seen for patients with an ECOG PS of <2 versus ≥2 at the start of immunotherapy. Programmed death-ligand 1 expression (<50 versus ≥50 percent) and body mass index (BMI) were associated with PFS; associations were also seen for ECOG PS and BMI with TTD. ECOG PS was the only significant variable in a multivariable analysis of OS and PFS.

"These findings help identify potential factors that can be addressed to optimize outcomes and care while patients are undergoing immunotherapy, and they highlight the need for randomized trials evaluating the efficacy of immunotherapy in high-risk patients such as those with poor ECOG PS," the authors write.

One author disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

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