Initial Therapy at Academic Centers Linked to Prolonged Overall Survival in NSCLC

Overall survival with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may be improved by initial treatment at an academic center rather than a non-academic facility, according an oral abstract presented at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 18^th Annual World Conference on Lung Cancer in Japan.¹

Researchers accessed and compiled the data from the National Cancer Database (NCDB) of 1,150,722 patients with NSCLC and separated them into 2 arms by receipt of initial treatment at an academic center (31.5%) and from a non-academic center (68.5%). Several baseline characteristics were different between the 2 groups, including age, race, comorbidity score, cancer stage, median income, course of treatment, and distance from treatment center.

Median overall survival (OS) for patients in all cohorts was 13.1 months, though OS improved significantly over time. Patients diagnosed with NSCLC in 2010 to 2013 had a median OS of 14.8 months compared with 12.4 months in patients diagnosed in 2004 to 2009 (P < .001).

Patients treated at academic centers also had a lower risk of death (hazard ratio [HR], 0.91; 95% CI, 0.906-0.919; P < .001); 4-year OS rates were 25% and 19% among patients treated at academic and non-academic centers, respectively (P < .001).

The authors concluded that “factors influencing treatment facility choice should be addressed for easier access to academic centers.”

Read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s coverage of the IASLC 18th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) by visiting the conference page.

Reference

1. Dholaria B, Ailawadhi S, Soyano AE, et al. Survival trends among non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients over a decade: impact of initial therapy at academic centers. Presented at: International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 18^th World Conference on Lung Cancer; October 2017; Yokohama, Japan. Abstract OA 06.07.