Receipt of guideline-concordant treatment significantly improves 2-year mortality outcomes for patients with lung cancer, indicating that interventions to reduce inequalities to guideline-concordant treatment could improve lung cancer outcomes, according to a study published in Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention (2020. doi:10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-20-0709).
“Guideline-concordant treatment… of lung cancer has been observed to vary across geographic regions over the years. However, there is little evidence as to what extent this variation is explained by differences in patients' clinical characteristics versus contextual factors, including socio-economic inequalities,” wrote Win Wah, Monash University, Victoria, Australia, and colleagues.
This study aimed to identify factors that impact receipt of guideline-concordant treatment for lung cancer.
A total of 4,854 cases of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) from the Victorian Lung Cancer Registry (Australia) between 2011 and 2018 were included in the analysis. Guideline-concordant treatment was defined by National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines.
Overall, 60.36% of the patients in the study received guideline-concordant treatment, with variation over geographic areas over time. Poor performance status, advanced disease stage, type of NSCLC, public hospital insurance, patient comorbidities, and socio-economically deprived geographic areas as associated factors in the receipt or lack thereof, of guideline-concordant treatment.
From the data in this study, researchers conclude that there is a need to address these disparities to improve outcomes overall in lung cancer.—Jennifer Spector
