Adverse events in non-small cell lung cancer patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors: A single center, real-world study in China.

Abstract

e21081 Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have improved clinical outcomes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), whereas they also can cause various adverse events (AEs). We reported the incidences, spectrum and severity of AEs in real-life practice after the approval of ICIs in Chinese NSCLC patients. Methods: In this single center, retrospective study, anonymized electronic medical record data were collected from the dedicated lung cancer immunotherapy outpatient clinic of Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital through the LinkDoc database. The patients (≥18 years old) with pathologically diagnosed metastatic NSCLC who receiving ICIs between 1 June 2019 and 31 December 2020 were included. The immune-related adverse events (irAEs) were diagnosed and assessed by oncologists. All AEs were classified and graded according to the National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE V5.0). Results: A total of 203 patients with a median age of 60.5 years were included in this study. Most patients were male (81.8%), smokers (49.8%), non-squamous histological type (51.7%). 61.1% of patients visited the outpatient clinic more than once. Pembrolizumab and Nivolumab were given to the majority of patients (80.8%). 114 patients (56.2%) received single-agent and 89 patients (43.8%) received combination therapy. The median duration of ICIs therapy was 271.2 days. In our study, 68.0% of patients experienced any-grade AEs, and 19.7% experienced grade≥3 AEs. The most commonly AEs were abnormal laboratory findings (57.1%), blood and lymphatic system disorders (25.1%), and respiratory disorders (19.7%). All of 93 patients (45.8%) experienced irAEs and 6 patients (8.4%) developed grade≥3 irAEs. The most frequent irAEs included blood and lymphatic system disorders (25.1%), hepatobiliary disorders (17.7%), and cardiac disorders (9.9%). Cough (3.4%), sputum (2.5%), and pain (2.0%) were the most frequent AEs which received treatment. Conclusions: Our results showed 68.0% and 45.8% patients experienced AEs and irAEs, respectively. The AEs and irAEs were primarily low grade. This study also demonstrated the information of AEs could be well collected and managed through our dedicated lung cancer immunotherapy outpatient clinic. [Table: see text]