Author of

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  P2.24 - Poster Session 2 - Supportive Care (ID 157)

  • Event: WCLC 2013
  • Type: Poster Session
  • Track: Supportive Care
  • Presentations: 1
  • Moderators:
  • Coordinates: 10/29/2013, 09:30 - 16:30, Exhibit Hall, Ground Level

  • 12000

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    P2.24-054 - Relationship Between Distress Level and Survival Rate Among Newly Diagnosed Stage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC): Pilot Study (ID 3275)

    09:30 - 09:30  |  Author(s): C.D. Bergerot
    • Abstract

    Background
    Lung cancer is one of the most appalling diagnoses, associated with significant patient distress, poured quality of life and often limited survival. Moreover, the current literature emphasizes the effect of distress level on survival rates. The purpose of this study was to explore the survival curve, considering the distress level reported by patients with advanced NSCLC cancer at the beginning of the treatment.

    Methods
    A sample of 24 patients with newly diagnosed stage IV NSCLC, answered the Distress Thermometer (DT) and the Problem List (PL) before start the first chemotherapy infusion. They treated at a private cancer center, located at Brasília, Brazil. Survival was calculated from time of the histopathological diagnosis. The data was analyzed with descriptive evaluation, followed by Kaplan-Meier models, to test associations with survival and distress.

    Results
    Figure 1Of those patients, 58.3% were male. They were between 54-81 years old (M = 66.2; SD = 6.6); 62.5% were married; 54.2% had at least college degree. The NSCLC were 87.5% adenocarcinoma and 12.5% epidermoid. The survival rate was 10.7 months for all patients (range from 1 to 50 months; SD = 10.7); being 6.4 months for moderate to severe distress and 14.2 for mild distress. Seven types of chemotherapy regimen were prescribed: Cisplatin+Gemcitabine (45.8%); Alimta+Carboplatin (16.7%); Carboplatin+Taxol+Avastin (8.3%); Erlotinib (8.3%); Taxol+Carboplatin (8.3%); Cisplatin+Alimta (8.3%); Cisplatin+Gemcitabine+Avastin (4.2%). Half of patients (54.2%) reported moderate to severe distress (DT ≥ 4). The most problems reported at PL were worry (70.8%), sadness (66.7%), fears (45.8%), sleep (70.8%), fatigue (66.7%), pain (58.3%), eating (50%) and breathing (50%). Considering the survival curves, patients with mild distress showed better survival rate than patients with moderate to severe distress (x[2] = 4.16; p = .04).

    Conclusion
    Despite the limited sample size, the data suggest that mild distress is a prognostic factor in survival rate. The high prevalence of patients with moderate to severe distress, as well as, the problems-related distress, highlighted the importance of the distress screening and also to create an advanced care planning for patients with lung cancer, from the time of diagnosis until the last phase of illness, helping them to cope with this reality. More studies are thus needed to investigate the implication of distress level at diagnosis as a prognostic factor, increasing and diversifying the sample in order to make the data more generalizable.