Identifying Potential Risk Factors for Increased Distress in Lung Cancer Patients Receiving Radiotherapy

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

10-2024

Publication Title

International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics

Abstract

Purpose/Objective(s): Previous studies have reported that lung cancer patients often experience high levels of emotional distress at the initiation and continuation of care. However, factors contributing to this elevated distress have not been extensively studied. This study evaluates various potential risk factors that influence NCCN distress thermometer (DT) scores in lung cancer patients at radiotherapy consultation. Materials/Methods: From 2016 to 2020, we conducted a retrospective analysis of lung cancer patients treated with radiotherapy (RT) at our multi-site institution. The study involved collecting baseline and post-treatment NCCN DT scores, alongside baseline ICD-10 codes for mental health diagnoses (MHD). As a departmental standard, we refer patients with an NCCN DT score of 4 or higher to social work for supportive care. Additional variables included area deprivation index (ADI), Charleson Comorbidity Index (CCI), patient demographics, pulmonary rehabilitation referral prior to RT, oxygen requirement prior to RT, smoking status, and SBRT vs longer fractionated regimens. Both linear and logistic univariate (UVA) and multivariable (MVA) analyses were conducted, both with a backward stepwise selection procedure that iteratively removing the least significant variables based on P values, with a significance level of alpha = 0.10 for inclusion. Results: Of 523 patients in the initial database query, 394 (75.3%) patients remained after exclusion of patients who were missing NCCN DT scores. Two-hundred and eight (52.8%) patients received SBRT. In our patient cohort, 260 (66%) were ≥ 70 years old and 223 (57%) were female. The median NCCN pre-treatment NCCN DT score was 3 (0-10). Linear regression MVA showed female sex (p

Volume

120

Issue

2S

First Page

e385

Comments

ASTRO 2024: 66th Annual Meeting American Society for Radiation Oncology, September 29 - October 2, 2024, Washington, DC

DOI

10.1016/j.ijrobp.2024.07.855

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