Weight gain may be an indicator of successful treatment for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to findings from a recently published article.
Past studies have linked unintentional weigh loss in patients receiving treatment for NSCLC to worse survival, but data from small studies regarding weight gain in these patients has been less conclusive. Thus, researchers led by Jyoti Patel, MD, Northwestern University (Chicago, IL), conducted a retrospective analysis of three phase 3 studies including over 2301 patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC patients who received platinum-based, first-line double treatment with or without bevacizumab and maintenance therapy. The body weight of each patient was recorded before and after treatment by each study’s schedule. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were the primary outcomes and assessed using statistical models.
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At analysis, 421 patients had more than 5% weight gain, most of which was observed 3 weeks after treatment. For those whose weight gain was greater than 5%, median OS was 16.7 months, significantly higher than the 10.7 months observed in patients who only gained 5% or less of their weight (N=1880). PFS was also higher in the group that gained more weight (6.9 months vs 4.8 months) along with disease control rate (tumor response or stable disease), which was 91.5% and 63.6%, respectively. Statistical analysis of these results verified their significance.
Thus, researchers concluded that weight gain during treatment may be an early indicator of clinical benefit. However, future studies monitoring weight change should be conducted to verify the results and provide important information regarding survival outcomes in patients with NSCLC that could lead to new therapeutic strategies.
