Research Paper Volume 16, Issue 1 pp 550—567
Effectiveness and safety of afatinib, gefitinib, and erlotinib for treatment-naïve elderly patients with epidermal growth factor receptor-mutated advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: a multi-institute retrospective study
- 1 Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan
- 2 Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taoyuan General Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taoyuan 330, Taiwan
- 3 Division of Thoracic Oncology, Department of Thoracic Medicine, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan
Received: June 12, 2023 Accepted: November 2, 2023 Published: January 8, 2024
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.205395How to Cite
Copyright: © 2024 Hung et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background: In real-world practice, most patients with lung cancer are diagnosed when they are aged ≥65 years. However, clinical trials tend to lack data for the elderly population. Therefore, we aimed to describe the effectiveness and safety of afatinib, gefitinib, and erlotinib for elderly patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods: Treatment-naïve patients with EGFR-mutated advanced NSCLC were enrolled at many hospitals in Taiwan. Patient characteristics and the effectiveness and safety of afatinib, gefitinib, and erlotinib were compared.
Results: This study enrolled 1,343 treatment-naïve patients with EGFR-mutated advanced NSCLC, of whom 554 were aged <65 years, 383 were aged 65–74 years, 323 were aged 75–84 years, and 83 were aged ≥85 years. For elderly patients, afatinib was more effective, with a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 14.7 months and overall survival (OS) of 22.2 months, than gefitinib (9.9 months and 17.7 months, respectively) and erlotinib (10.8 months and 18.5 months, respectively; PFS: p = 0.003; OS: p = 0.026). However, grade ≥3 adverse events, including skin toxicities, paronychia, mucositis, and diarrhea, were more frequently experienced by patients receiving afatinib than those receiving gefitinib or erlotinib.
Conclusions: This large retrospective study provides real-world evidence of the effectiveness and safety of EGFR-TKIs for elderly patients with EGFR-mutated advanced NSCLC, a population that is often underrepresented in clinical trials and real-world evidence. Afatinib was more effective as a first-line treatment than gefitinib or erlotinib for elderly patients with EGFR-mutated advanced NSCLC.