Quality of life in ovarian cancer patients treated with bevacizumab: a meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Bevacizumab is widely used in ovarian cancer due to its ability to extend survival. The addition of bevacizumab to chemotherapy may increase the toxicities that affect quality of life (QOL). To investigate the impact of bevacizumab on QOL during the increased survival, we conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trial (RCT).

Methods

We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and ClinicalTrials.gov. for RCTs comparing the QOL of bevacizumab plus chemotherapy (BEV-CT) versus chemotherapy (CT) in ovarian cancer. The primary outcome was the difference in change in QOL from baseline to follow-up between groups.

Results

Four RCTs involving 3454 patients were included in this meta-analysis. There was no difference in change in QOL between patients treated with BEV-CT and CT at the end of follow-up (pooled SMD= −00.05; 95%CI = −00.34 to 0.23; P = 0.71). Subgroup analyses showed similar results in the frontline and recurrent setting of ovarian cancer.

Conclusions

This is the first meta-analysis investigating QOL in ovarian cancer patients treated with bevacizumab. The extended survival associated with bevacizumab is not accompanied by a significant deterioration in QOL. Combined with the efficacy and safety outcomes, these results further support the clinical benefit of bevacizumab for ovarian cancer.

KEYWORDS:

• Bevacizumab
• chemotherapy
• ovarian cancer
• quality of life
• meta-analysis

Declaration of interest

The authors have no 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. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

A peer reviewer on this manuscript has disclosed: Scientific Aadi Bioscience, advisory boards: AstraZeneca, Eisai, GSK Inc., Merck & Co., Novacure, Roche Pharma, Sutro Biopharma, Vascular Biogenics Ltd; research funding: Array BioPharma Inc., AstraZeneca., Eisai Inc., Genentech, Inc., Regeneron, Sanofi-Aventis US LLC, Tesaro Inc., Vascular Biogenics Ltd; royalties: BMJ Publishing, UptoDate, Elsevier Ltd., Wolters Kluwer Health, Wiley Blackwell. All other peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Authors’ contributions

D Wu, M Liu, AC Liu: Conception/design. D Wu, JR He, M Liu: Literature search/study selection. ZR Wang, JR He, M Liu: Data extraction. P Shi, D Wu, AC Liu: Methodology. D Wu, JR He: Statistical analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14740338.2023.2271830

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 81803635).