Use of ALK-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (ALK TKI) in clinical practice, overall survival, and treatment duration – a Swedish nationwide retrospective study

Lung cancer patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase rearrangement lose affiliation with labor market at diagnosis

“…However, a median age at diagnosis of 64 years of age remain younger than the median age of diagnosis of lung cancer in general, at 71 years [ 2 , 11 ]. Our finding of a median OS of 44.0 months compares well to other recent studies which found a median OS for ALK+ NSCLC patients ranging from 22 months to 48.5 months [ 16 , 29-31 ], while data from a single academic center in the US stands out with a median OS of 81 months [ 23 ]. In this context of median survival times well above 40 months, our finding of a median OS of 44.0 months further supports the consensus that ALK+ NSCLC patients live longer than lung cancer patients in general [ 18 , 32 ].…”

“…Using nationwide registries linked through individual patient identifiers with 100% coverage, we report here that the median onset of ALK+ NSCLC in a nationwide cohort from Denmark is 64 years of age. This is older than findings from other studies where the median age of onset of ALK+ NSCLC was reported to be between 52 and 63 years [ 16 , 23 , 29-31 ]. However, a median age at diagnosis of 64 years of age remain younger than the median age of diagnosis of lung cancer in general, at 71 years [ 2 , 11 ].…”

“…It is therefore not surprising that a lung cancer diagnosis carries independent risk for losing workplace affiliation as compared with other cancer types [ 14 , 15 ]. On the other hand, lung cancer patients with targetable driver alterations are frequently of younger age [ 16-19 ] and are treated with targeted agents instead of chemotherapy. Importantly, treatment with targeted agents provides both significantly longer survival and less therapy-related toxicity [ 5 , 18 , 20 ].…”