Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 13, 2025
07:29
Intramucosal Inoculation of Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cells in Mice for Tumor Immune Profiling and Treatment Response Assessment
Published on: April 22, 2019
11.6K
Patient-Reported Outcomes for Patients With Metastatic NSCLC Treated at an Academic Medical Center, 2017-2021
Loretta A Williams1, Cai Xu1, Darcy A Ponce1
1Department of Symptom Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA.
Cancer Medicine
|August 2, 2025
Summary
Patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) report moderate symptom burden, including fatigue and pain, during first-line therapy. Symptom interference generally improved over time across different treatment regimens.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Patient-Reported Outcomes
- Supportive Care
Background:
- Understanding the symptom burden in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is crucial for providing effective supportive care.
- Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) offer valuable insights into the patient experience during cancer treatment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe the patient-reported outcomes (PROs) of patients with metastatic NSCLC initiating first-line (1L) systemic therapy.
- To characterize the symptom burden and its interference with daily life in this patient population under usual care.
Main Methods:
- Prospective observational study of 609 patients (≥18 years) with stage IV NSCLC initiating 1L systemic therapy (Jan 2017-Dec 2020).
- Patients completed the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory for lung cancer (MDASI-LC) and EuroQol EQ-5D-5L questionnaires at baseline and ~6-week intervals.
- Follow-up concluded on June 30, 2021.
Main Results:
- The most frequent severe symptoms were fatigue, pain, shortness of breath, disturbed sleep, and dry mouth, with 17%-32% of assessments rated moderate to severe.
- Moderate to severe symptom interference with physical and affective aspects of daily life was reported in 39% and 22% of assessments, respectively.
- Symptom and interference scores generally decreased from baseline over 102 weeks across all four first-line regimens.
Conclusions:
- Patients newly diagnosed with metastatic NSCLC experience a moderate symptom burden.
- Further research is necessary to identify predictors and causes of symptom burden to facilitate effective management strategies.
