FROM JOURNAL OF ONCOLOGY PRACTICE
Socioeconomic status, as measured by insurance status, was associated with survival among patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and pretreatment cancer-associated weight loss, in a retrospective review of medical records.
Investigators identified 1,366 patients with NSCLC who had been consecutively treated at a tertiary care health system between Jan. 1, 2006, and Dec. 31, 2013, and obtained their insurance status from an institutional tumor registry.
Cancer-associated weight loss was present at the time of diagnosis in 30% of the patients. Among those patients with pretreatment weight loss, uninsured patients had worse survival compared with those who had private insurance (hazard ratio, 1.63; 95% confidence interval, 1.14-2.35). However, no association was found for patients without pretreatment weight loss, wrote Steven Lau, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, and his associates. The report was published in the Journal of Oncology Practice .
After the researchers controlled for other prognostic factors, Medicaid insurance (odds ratio, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.42-3.30) and lack of insurance (OR, 2.32; 95% CI, 1.50-3.58) were independently associated with pretreatment weight loss.
“Patients with NSCLC of lower SES as measured by primary payer are disproportionately affected by cancer-associated weight loss, which in turn is prognostic of diminished survival … These findings suggest early recognition and management of cachexia, even at the time of cancer diagnosis, could result in improved survival,” Dr. Lau and his associates concluded.
The study was supported in part by National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences grants TL1TR001104 and UL1TR001105. Dr. Lau reported employment with LabCorp by an immediate family member. Coauthors reported financial ties to Advenchen Laboratories, Macrogen, Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, and DFINE.
SOURCE: Lau S et al. J Oncol Pract. 2018 Mar 20. doi: 10.1200/JOP.2017.025239
