There was a lack of commitment by doctors on orders for DNR/CPR and to limit life-sustaining therapies, infrequent discussions with patients on end-of-life decisions, and excessive burdensome interventions with inadequate palliative care for the dying. These findings may reflect certain Asian cultural biases. More work is required to improve our quality of end-of-life care.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and tuberculosis (TB) developed in 4 foreign workers living in dormitories in Singapore during April–May 2020. Clinical manifestations and atypical radiographic features of COVID-19 led to the diagnosis of TB through positive interferon-gamma release assay and culture results. During the COVID-19 pandemic, TB should not be overlooked.
Immune‐related adverse events (IrAEs) of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) can be serious and unpredictable. We examine the incidence rate and risk factors for IrAEs in an Asian cohort of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with immunotherapy. Between June 2014 and August 2020, we retrospectively analysed IrAEs in NSCLC patients treated with anti‐PD‐1 or anti‐PD‐L1 inhibitors at the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore. A Poisson regression model was used to estimate the effect of risk factors on incidence rate of any grade IrAEs. One hundred and forty‐one patients were enrolled. Median age was 63. Majority were male (67%) with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) PS 0‐1 (77%). More than half (56%) received pembrolizumab. Eleven percent harboured epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation. Eighteen percent received concomitant chemotherapy. Median number of cycles was 4, and median duration of treatment was 2.1 months. IrAEs were seen in 71 (50.4%) patients, with an incidence rate of 99 events per 1000 person‐months. Fatigue (25%), rash (10.5%) and pneumonitis (7.9%) were the most common IrAEs. Twenty out of 152 IrAEs (13.2%) were Grade 3 or higher in severity: most common being pneumonitis (5.3%), fatigue (3.3%) and transaminitis (1.3%). Multivariable analysis demonstrated that concomitant chemotherapy use, higher BMI and presence of EGFR mutation are significant predictors for IrAEs (P < .0001; P = .016; P = .007). Our findings can help guide risk stratification and monitoring of IrAEs among NSCLC patients on immunotherapy.
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