INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) share similar symptoms and risk factors. For this reason, the two diseases may occur simultaneously, or one may initially be mistaken for the other. The purpose of this study was to describe how inhalation therapy for obstructive lung disease is introduced to treat patients with newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated at the Golnik Clinic and how it changes over time. Specifically, we described the group with changes in inhalation therapy just prior to lung cancer diagnosis, including the occurrence of adverse effects of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS).
METHODS: In this retrospective observational study, we included patients with NSCLC who received first-line cancer treatment at the Golnik Clinic. Data were collected using the hospital information system and clinical pathways of systemic cancer treatment.
RESULTS: Of the 298 NSCLC patients included, 104 patients (35 %) were using inhalation therapy shortly before the cancer diagnosis. A combination of short-, long-acting bronchodilators and ICS (29 %; 30/104) was prescribed most frequently. Inhalation therapy of the majority of patients (77 %; 80/104) was initiated or intensified just before the NSCLC diagnosis. In other words, of all patients included, one in four patients (80/298; 27 %) had their inhaled therapy initiated or intensified. We looked at these patients (80) in more detail. Smokers (Chi-square test; p < 0,001), patients with obstructive lung disease (Chi-square test; p = 0,001), symptomatic patients (Chi-square test; p < 0,001), and patients with worse lung function (Chi-square test; p < 0,001) were significantly more likely to have inhalation therapy initiated or intensified shortly before the cancer diagnosis. Patients were most frequently prescribed short-acting bronchodilators (24/80; 30 %). Obstructive lung disease and therefore a treatment indication for inhalation therapy was present in 63 of 80 (79 %) patients. Over time, patients frequently discontinued inhalation therapy; only 56 % (40/72) of patients were still receiving inhalation therapy six months after starting cancer treatment. The number of inhalation agents also decreased significantly over time (Wilcoxon test; p < 0,001). Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) were prescribed to 31 of 80 patients. Overall, 68 % (21/31) of patients with ICS had a treatment indication for ICS prescription, whereas only 53 % (9/17) of patients with concurrent COPD did. In patients with ICS, a trend towards a higher incidence of pneumonia (42 % vs. 29 % of patients without ICS) and a significantly higher incidence of oral candidiasis (Chi-square test; p = 0,038) was observed.
CONCLUSIONS: Inhalation therapy for obstructive lung disease was frequently introduced to or intensified in patients with newly diagnosed NSCLC. Because the introduction of inhalation therapy for was often temporary and occasionally without a treatment indication, we hypothesize that inhalation therapy was often prescribed at the expense of respiratory symptoms in lung cancer. Because patients receiving ICS were significantly more likely to develop oral candidiasis and showed a trend towards a higher incidence of pneumonia, it is important to prescribe ICS only to patients in whom the benefit outweighs the risk.
|