Survival benefit of first-generation epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors in female with advanced lung cancer.

Abstract

This study aimed to estimate therapeutic effects of first-generation epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) in real-world practice, by analyzing survival outcomes in an unselected, Korean female population with advanced lung cancer based on the National Health Insurance Service database. We identified women with newly diagnosed advanced lung cancer from January 2004 to December 2013. For progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) analyses, patients were defined into the following subgroups: group A, treated with first-generation EGFR-TKI ⩾6 months; group B, treated with EGFR-TKIs <6 months but at least >1 month; and group C, treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy as follows: monotherapy or combination therapy with gemcitabine or pemetrexed; or monotherapy with docetaxel, paclitaxel, or vinorelbine. Among 11,045 enrolled patients, 6170 (55.8%) were treated with first-generation EGFR-TKIs for at least 1 month. The median OS for patients treated with EGFR-TKIs was significantly longer than that of EGFR-TKI-naive patients (19.1 months [95% confidence interval (CI) 18.5-19.7] vs 9.5 months [95% CI 9.1-9.8], P<0.001). In subgroup analysis, group A had a significantly longer median OS compared with group B (30.3 months [95% CI 29.5-31.2] vs 12.3 months [95% CI 11.9-12.7], P<0.001). The median PFS of group A was significantly longer than that of group B (15.8 vs 3.7 months, P<0.001). Our analysis demonstrates that EGFR-TKIs confer significant PFS and OS benefits in the real-world practice for Korean female with advanced lung cancer.