Sex and gender differences in treatment intention, quality of life and performance status in the first 100 patients with periampullary cancer enrolled in the CHAMP study

BACKGROUND: Periampullary cancer is a term for cancers arising in or in close proximity to the pancreas. Pancreatic cancer is the 3(rd) leading cause of cancer death for both sexes and while surgery is the only option for cure, chemotherapy is given in both the adjuvant and palliative settings. The aim of this study was to investigate any sex and gender differences in patients with pancreatic and other periampullary adenocarcinomas enrolled in a prospective, observational trial. METHODS: The study cohort consists of the first 100 patients, 49 women and 51 men, enrolled in the Chemotherapy, Host Response and Molecular dynamics in Periampullary cancer (CHAMP) study, an ongoing study of patients undergoing neoadjuvant, adjuvant or first-line palliative chemotherapy treatment. Twenty-five patients had surgery with curative intent and subsequent adjuvant treatment, and 75 patients were treated with palliative chemotherapy. Data regarding health-related quality of life (HRQoL, EORTC-QLQ-C30) at baseline, demographic and clinicopathological factors were examined and stratification by treatment intention according to sex. Overall survival (OS) was calculated through Kaplan–Meier analysis. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference between male and female patients treated with curative intent, with fewer women having undergone surgery (18 vs 7, p = 0.017), also after adjustment for age, tumor location and performance status. No statistical differences were found between the sexes regarding age, comorbidities, or clinicopathological factors. Before start of chemotherapy treatment, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was lower in female than in male patients. However, HRQoL was not associated with performance status in female patients, whereas in male patients several HRQoL indicators were significantly positively associated with poorer performance status at baseline. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows no clear differences between the sexes regarding biological factors concluding that gender bias might be responsible for the discrepancy between men and women being offered curative surgery. The observed difference between women and men regarding the association between HRQoL and performance status is unprecedented. Altogether these findings underline the importance of taking gender into consideration when assessing eligibility for curative surgery in order to improve biological outcome and decrease suffering in both sexes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT03724994. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-023-10720-w.