Impact of chemotherapy in the prognosis of non-small-cell lung cancer patients with severe to very severe COPD

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to investigate if first-line chemotherapy improves total survival time in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients complicated with severe to very severe COPD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective observational clinical study included 267 consecutive NSCLC patients with COPD complications at the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of Tianjin Chest Hospital between January 2009 and January 2018. Sixty-nine evaluable patients were included. The clinical characteristics, toxicity profile, objective response rate, and prognosis were analyzed and compared between patients receiving and those not receiving chemotherapy. RESULTS: Forty-five and 24 patients received first-line chemotherapy plus supportive care and supportive care alone, respectively. Kaplan–Meier curves showed that patients receiving chemotherapy had a statistically significant 6-month longer median overall survival (OS) than that of patients receiving supportive care alone (14.0, 95% CI: 8.5–19.5 vs 8.0, 95% CI: 6.4–9.6, respectively) (chi2=8.857, P=0.003). In the multivariate Cox proportional hazard model adjusted for the most relevant variables, the adjusted hazard ratio (HRadj) differed significantly for the receipt of chemotherapy (HRadj=0.4464, 95% CI: 0.2495–0.7988; P=0.0066) but not for gender (HRadj=0.8527, 95% CI: 0.4461–1.6298; P=0.6297), age (HRadj=1.0021, 95% CI: 0.9609–1.0451; P=0.9214), histology (HRadj=1.4422, 95% CI: 0.6959–2.9889; P=0.3247), cancer stage (HRadj=1.9098, 95% CI: 0.8607–4.2375; P=0.1116), performance status score (HRadj=1.5155, 95% CI: 0.7523–3.0529; P=0.2446), lung function (HRadj=1.3856, 95% CI: 0.7149–2.6857; P=0.3341), or respiratory symptoms (HRadj=1.0518, 95% CI: 0.6032–1.8342; P=0.8586). Patients with grade 3/4 adverse reactions accounted for 29% (13/45) of the chemotherapy group. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that chemotherapy may improve the OS of NSCLC patients with severe to very severe COPD.