Association of Sex, Age, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status With Survival Benefit of Cancer Immunotherapy in Randomized Clinical Trials : A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Key Points

Question

Are different sex, age, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (0 vs ≥1) factors associated with the same benefit with immune checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy compared with non–immune checkpoint inhibitor control therapy in the treatment of advanced cancers?

Findings

In this meta-analysis of 37 randomized clinical trials involving 23 760 patients, no evidence of a significant difference in overall survival benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitors over control therapy between patients with different sex, age, or Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status was found.

Meaning

The results of this meta-analysis suggest that immunotherapy may confer a survival benefit in the treatment of advanced cancer regardless of patient sex, age, and performance status and should not be restricted based on these characteristics.

Abstract

Importance

Sex, age, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) may affect immune response. However, the association of these factors with the survival benefit of cancer immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) remains unclear.

Objective

To assess the potential sex, age, and ECOG PS differences of immunotherapy survival benefit in patients with advanced cancer.

Data Sources

PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Scopus were searched from inception to August 31, 2019.

Study Selection

Published randomized clinical trials comparing overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced cancer treated with ICI immunotherapy vs non-ICI control therapy were included.

Data Extraction and Synthesis

Pooled OS hazard ratio (HR) and 95% CI for patients of different sex, age (<65 and ≥65 years) or ECOG PS (0 and ≥1) were calculated separately using a random-effects model, and the heterogeneity between paired estimates was assessed using an interaction test by pooling study-specific interaction HRs. This study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guideline.

Main Outcomes and Measures

The difference in survival benefit of ICIs between sex, age (<65 vs ≥65 years), and ECOG PS (0 vs ≥1), as well as the difference stratified by cancer type, line of therapy, agent of immunotherapy, and immunotherapy strategy in the intervention arm.

Results

Thirty-seven phase 2 or 3 randomized clinical trials involving 23 760 patients were included. An OS benefit of immunotherapy was found for both men (HR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.71-0.81) and women (HR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.72-0.88); for both younger (<65 years: HR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.71-0.83) and older (≥65 years: HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.72-0.84) patients; and for both patients with ECOG PS 0 (HR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.73-0.90) and PS greater than or equal to 1 (HR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.74-0.84). No significant difference of relative benefit from immunotherapy over control therapy was found in patients of different sex ( P = .25, I ²  = 19.02%), age ( P = .94, I ²  = 15.57%), or ECOG PS ( P = .74, I ²  = 0%). No significant difference was found in subgroup analyses by cancer type, line of therapy, agent of immunotherapy, and immunotherapy strategy in the intervention arm.

Conclusions and Relevance

This meta-analysis found no evidence of an association of sex, age (<65 vs ≥65 years), or ECOG PS (0 vs ≥1) with cancer immunotherapy survival benefit. This finding suggests that the use of ICIs in advanced cancer should not be restricted to certain patients in sex, age, or ECOG PS categories.

Abstract

This meta-analysis examines the association of sex, age, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status with overall survival in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors for advanced cancer.