BackgroundThe risk of developing lung cancer is high in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD), as few treatment options are available. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are used for the treatment of non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in clinical practice; however, in patients with preexisting ILD, the risk of ICI‐related pneumonitis is unknown. We evaluated the efficacy and lung toxicity of nivolumab in patients with NSCLC and ILD.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 216 NSCLC patients who had received nivolumab therapy. The existence of ILD in these patients was determined by lung computed tomography findings; 26 patients had ILD. We evaluated the efficacy of nivolumab by measuring the response rate (RR), progression‐free survival (PFS) duration, and lung toxicity by incidence, severity, and outcome of nivolumab‐related ILD.ResultsThe RR and median PFS of the ILD and non‐ILD groups were 27% versus 13% (P = 0.078) and 2.7 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.7–5.3) versus 2.9 months (95% CI 2.1–3.4; P = 0.919), respectively. The incidences of total and severe nivolumab‐related pneumonitis were significantly higher in the ILD group than in the non‐ILD group (31% vs. 12%, P = 0.014 and 19% vs. 5%, P = 0.022, respectively). No death from nivolumab‐related pneumonitis occurred. Over 50% of the patients in both groups with nivolumab‐related pneumonitis showed improvement over time.ConclusionRelative to the non‐ILD group, nivolumab‐related pneumonitis was observed more frequently in the ILD group; however, most cases were manageable.

Background: Spirometry is useful for evaluating respiratory health status and predicting health-related outcomes. As spirometry requires skilled technician and takes time, it is useful to find simple way for predicting lung function impairment. The aim of this study was to investigate which tests could predict lung function impairment among workers. Methods: This prospective study included workers of manufacturing industry who underwent health checkups in 2017. Subjects underwent the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) assessment test (CAT), spirometry, and physical fitness assessments, including handgrip strength (HGS). Lung function impairment was defined as a decline in any of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), or a FEV1/FVC ratio less than the lower limit of normal (LLN). Results: Complete data on 475 workers (366 men, 50.4% ever smokers) were available. Lung function impairment was observed in 99 subjects (64 men). Men with lung function impairment had significantly higher rate of eversmoking, passive smoking at home in childhood, high CAT scores, and decreased HGS, compared with those without. On multivariate analyses, ever-smoking (odds ratio [OR], 2.50; 95% confidence intervals [CI], 1.25-4.97), passive smoking at home in childhood (OR, 2.71; 95% CI, 1.16-6.32), CAT scores (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.01-1.12), and HGS (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.57-0.92) were independently associated with lung function impairment in men. Conclusions: Ever-smoking, passive smoking at home in childhood, high CAT scores, and decreased HGS are significantly associated with lung function impairment in men.

We investigated how use of heated tobacco products (HTPs) affects tobacco cessation in a Japanese workplace. We offered cessation programmes for 158 tobacco users from November 2018 to April 2019 and surveyed the quitting rate in August 2019. Successful quitting was defined as stopping use of all kinds of nicotine-containing tobacco products. A Poisson regression analysis adjusted with inverse probability weighting showed that HTP users (either exclusive HTP users or dual users) were less likely than exclusive cigarette users to quit tobacco (risk ratio, 0.77; 95% CIs 0.61 to 0.97, p=0.024). The use of HTPs should not be recommended to assist in smoking cessation. Trial registration UMIN000034719.