Impact of comprehensive geriatric assessment on quality of life, overall survival, and unplanned admission in patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy

Objectives: Overall survival ﴾OS﴿ for patients with localized non-small cell lung cancer ﴾NSCLC﴿ treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy ﴾SBRT﴿ is poorer than for patients undergoing surgery. Patients who undergo SBRT are often ineligible for surgery due to significant comorbidities that can impact their mortality. A comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) that identifies and treats aging related comorbidities could improve OS and quality of life (QoL). This randomized study investigated if a CGA added to SBRT impacts QoL, survival, and unplanned admissions.

Materials and methods: From January 2015 to June 2016, 51 patients diagnosed with T1-2N0M0 NSCLC treated with SBRT were enrolled. The patients were randomized 1:1 to receive SBRT +/- CGA. EuroQoL Group 5D (EQ-5D) health index and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores were assessed at start of SBRT, at five weeks, and every third month for a year after SBRT.

Results: There were 26 and 25 patients randomized to receive ± CGA, respectively. The repeated measures one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test of the EQ-5D health index and VAS scores did not show statistically significant differences between groups. For the EQ-5D VAS scores at twelve months follow-up there was a small difference between the groups although not statistically significant. Even though more patients deceased in the no-CGA group, no statistically significant difference in survival rates and unplanned admission rate was observed between groups.

Conclusion: In patients with localized NSCLC treated with SBRT, a CGA did not impact the overall QoL, the prevalence/length of unplanned admissions, or survival. There was an indication of small differences in QoL and survival in the data, but such differences can only be validated in larger studies.