ABSTRACTBackgroundThis study aimed to evaluate the impact of antibiotic exposure on efficacy and adverse reactions in non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients receiving chemoimmunotherapy, and to explore any specific associations on the basis of antibiotic class.MethodsA retrospective study was conducted on NSCLC patients who received chemoimmunotherapy in two Shandong hospitals between January 2018 and October 2023. The association between antibiotic exposure and progression‐free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), objective response rate (ORR) and incidence of immune related adverse reactions (irAE) of patients were evaluated.ResultsOf the 316 patients, 134 (42.41%) received antibiotics (ATB group), and 182 (57.59%) did not (N‐ATB group). There was no significant difference in PFS (aHR = 1.009, 95% CI: 0.770–1.323; p = 0.946) or OS (aHR = 1.420, 95% CI: 0.986–2.047; p = 0.060) between ATB and N‐ATB groups. The impact on efficacy was related to the type of antibiotic. β‐Lactams (aHR = 1.737, 95% CI: 1.148–2.629; p = 0.009), in particular β‐lactam/β‐lactamase inhibitor combinations (BLBLIs) (aHR = 1.885, 95% CI: 1.207–2.944, p = 0.005) were associated with poorer OS. However, quinolones (aHR = 1.192, 95% CI: 0.861–1.650; p = 0.291) were not associated with OS. The incidence of irAEs was not significantly different between ATB and N‐ATB groups (p = 0.073), but was higher with BLBLIs (p = 0.013).ConclusionsIn NSCLC patients receiving chemoimmunotherapy, no significant difference was observed in efficacy and incidence of irAEs between the ATB and the n‐ATB groups. In antibiotic class analysis, β‐lactams and specifically BLBLIs were observed to be associated with worse OS.
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