Neurocognitive functioning following lung cancer treatment: The PRO-Long Study

This observational cohort study investigates neurocognitive functioning (NCF) and its associations with overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS) and patient-reported psychological toxicities in locally-advanced and metastatic non-small cell lung (NSCLC) cancer patients receiving loco-regional radiotherapy and/or systemic therapy. Objective NCF data was collected with six psychometrically validated neurocognitive tests. Subjective NCF was assessed with the cognitive domain of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 items. Psychological toxicity data was collected with the patient-reported outcomes version of the common terminology criteria for adverse events. Meaningful clinical important differences were determined for changes in NCF. Univariate Cox proportional hazards models and generalized linear models were used to determine statistical significance (p < 0.01). In total, 50 patients were recruited. At baseline, 13 (26%) patients had an impaired objective NCF. Over time, deterioration was seen in 11% (n = 3), 5% (n = 1) and 6% (n = 1) of patients at 2-3, 6 and 12 months post-treatment. The OS of patients with a normal NCF at baseline was longer than those with an impaired baseline NCF (29.5 vs 17.1 months). No statistical significance has been reached between NCF and OS (p = .353) nor NCF and DFS (p = .251). Objective NCF was not correlated with subjective NCF (p = .193), nor anxiety (p = .504), depression (p = .513), memory problems (p = .813) and concentration problems (p = .813). Systemic treatment and loco-regional radiotherapy may have a temporarily negative impact on NCF in a small proportion of locally-advanced and metastatic NSCLC. Baseline NCF could be a predictor for OS.