Initial Treatment and Survival in Danish Patients Diagnosed with Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer (2005–2015): SCAN-LEAF Study

Abstract

Aim: To describe initial treatment patterns and survival of patients diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Denmark, before immune checkpoint inhibitor and later-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor use. Patients & methods: Adults diagnosed with incident NSCLC (2005–2015; follow-up: 2016). Initial treatments and overall survival (OS) are reported. Results: 31,939 NSCLC patients (51.6% stage IV) were included. Increasing use of curative radiotherapy/chemoradiation for stage I, II/IIIA and IIIB NSCLC coincided with improved 2-year OS. Systemic anticancer therapy use increased for patients with stage IV non-squamous NSCLC (53.0–60.6%) but not squamous NSCLC (44.9–47.3%). 1-year OS improved in patients with stage IV non-squamous NSCLC (23–31%) but not squamous NSCLC (22–25%). Conclusion: Trends indicated improved OS as treatments evolved between 2005 and 2015, but the effect was limited to 1-year OS in stage IV disease.

Keywords::

• I-O Optimise initiative
• NSCLC
• overall survival
• registry
• SCAN-LEAF
• time trends
• treatment

Supplementary data

To view the supplementary data that accompany this paper please visit the journal website at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/suppl/10.2217/fon-2021-0746

Author contributions

The authors are fully responsible for all content. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the results and the writing and revising of the manuscript and provided approval of the final version submitted for publication. All authors also contributed to the conception and design of the analysis. A Mette Kejs and P Horvat conducted the analyses.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was supported by Bristol Myers Squibb. IQVIA received funding from Bristol Myers Squibb to perform the data analyses planned in the study protocol. J B Sørensen has received speaker fees from Bristol Myers Squibb. P Horvat, M Rosenlund, A Mette Kejs and D Patel were employees of IQVIA at the time of this study. A Juarez-Garcia, M J Daumont, J R Penrod and J C O’Donnell are employees of Bristol Myers Squibb. A Juarez-Garcia and J R Penrod report stock ownership in Bristol Myers Squibb. L Lacoin is an employee of Epi-Fit and was contracted (paid) as a consultant by Bristol Myers Squibb to support the I-O Optimise initiative. O T Brustugun received honoraria from AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Pierre Fabre, Roche and Takeda, and research funding from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Roche, GlaxoSmithKline and Boehringer Ingelheim. S Ekman is employed by an institution that was remunerated by Bristol Myers Squibb for this study. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Professional writing and editorial assistance were provided by B Landry of Parexel, funded by Bristol Myers Squibb.

Ethical conduct of research

The overall SCAN-LEAF study (NCT02839629) was conducted in accordance with International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology Guidelines for Good Epidemiology Practices and the Declaration of Helsinki. The SCAN-LEAF retrospective observational study adhered to the laws and regulatory requirements of all participating countries; as it used pseudonymized patient data from national registries, informed consent was not applicable.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Bristol Myers Squibb. IQVIA received funding from Bristol Myers Squibb to perform the data analyses planned in the study protocol. J B Sørensen has received speaker fees from Bristol Myers Squibb. P Horvat, M Rosenlund, A Mette Kejs and D Patel were employees of IQVIA at the time of this study. A Juarez-Garcia, M J Daumont, J R Penrod and J C O’Donnell are employees of Bristol Myers Squibb. A Juarez-Garcia and J R Penrod report stock ownership in Bristol Myers Squibb. L Lacoin is an employee of Epi-Fit and was contracted (paid) as a consultant by Bristol Myers Squibb to support the I-O Optimise initiative. O T Brustugun received honoraria from AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Pierre Fabre, Roche and Takeda, and research funding from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Roche, GlaxoSmithKline and Boehringer Ingelheim. S Ekman is employed by an institution that was remunerated by Bristol Myers Squibb for this study. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.