Clinical Epidemiology (Sep 2021)

Treatment and Survival in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Urothelial, Ovarian, Gastric and Kidney Cancer: A Nationwide Comprehensive Evaluation

  • Sørup S,
  • Darvalics B,
  • Khalil AA,
  • Nordsmark M,
  • Hæe M,
  • Donskov F,
  • Agerbæk M,
  • Russo L,
  • Oksen D,
  • Boutmy E,
  • Verpillat P,
  • Cronin-Fenton D

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 871 – 882

Abstract

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Signe Sørup,1 Bianka Darvalics,1 Azza Ahmed Khalil,2 Marianne Nordsmark,2 Mette Hæe,2 Frede Donskov,3 Mads Agerbæk,2 Leo Russo,4 Dina Oksen,5 Emmanuelle Boutmy,5 Patrice Verpillat,5 Deirdre Cronin-Fenton1 1Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University & Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark; 2Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark; 3Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; 4Worldwide Medical and Safety, Pfizer, Collegeville, PA, USA; 5Global Epidemiology, Merck Healthcare KGaA, Darmstadt, GermanyCorrespondence: Signe SørupDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University & Aarhus University Hospital, Olof Palmes Allé 43-45, DK-8200 Aarhus N, DenmarkTel +45 871 68398Email [email protected]: Few studies have described real-world treatment patterns and survival before the widespread use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). We aimed to describe anti-cancer treatment including the use of programmed cell death-1 and ligand-1 (PD-1/PD-L1) ICIs and overall survival (OS) in advanced cancer patients as a benchmarking real-world standard before widespread use of ICIs.Patients and Methods: Using nationwide Danish medical registries, we assembled cohorts of Danish patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (n=12,283), urothelial carcinoma (n=2504), epithelial ovarian cancer (n=1466), gastric adenocarcinoma (n=1457), and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) (n=1261) diagnosed between 1/1/2013 and 31/12/2017. We describe anti-cancer treatment and OS using proportions, medians, and Kaplan–Meier methods.Results: Between 9% (ovarian cancer) and 25% (gastric adenocarcinoma) of patients did not receive anti-cancer treatment. The remaining patients received surgery, radiation therapy, and/or medical therapy. Chemotherapy was the most frequent medical therapy in all cohorts except for RCC (tyrosine kinase inhibitors). PD-L1/PD-1 ICIs were used in 7– 8% of the NSCLC and RCC cohorts—mainly as second or higher line treatments. OS was longest in patients starting treatment with surgery (eg 25.6 months [95%-confidence interval (CI)=21.9– 29.4] for NSCLC and 21.4 months [95%-CI=19.8– 23.5] for urothelial carcinoma) and shortest for radiation therapy (eg 3.9 months [95%-CI=3.6– 4.2] for NSCLC and 12.6 months [95%-CI=9.2– 17.5] for urothelial carcinoma). NSCLC patients starting with medical therapy had OS between these limits. Median OS for NSCLC patients starting treatment with PD-L1/PD-1 ICIs was 21.4 months (95%-CI=13.9-not estimable).Conclusion: Most patients with advanced NSCLC, urothelial carcinoma, epithelial ovarian cancer, gastric adenocarcinoma and RCC had poor OS in an era where only a minority received PD-L1/PD-1 ICIs. This information on treatment patterns and survival is important as a benchmarking real-world standard before widespread use of ICIs.Keywords: cancer, treatment, survival, immunotherapy, programmed cell death-1 immune checkpoint inhibitors, programmed cell death-ligand-1 immune checkpoint inhibitors

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