Abubakar Tauseef, MDa; Maryam Zafar, MBBSb; Peter Silberstein, MDa; Joseph Nahas, MDa; Thomas Frederickson, MDc; Sean Hansen, MDa; Anum Abbas, MDd; Yaman Alali, MDa; Avdesh Buragadda, MDa; Omar K. Abughanimeh, MDd; Sunil Nair, MDa; Joseph Thirumalareddy, MDa; and Mohsin Mirza, MBBSa Correspondence: Abubakar Tauseef (abubakartauseef@creighton.edu)
aCreighton University, Omaha, Nebraska bDow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan cCHI Health, Omaha, Nebraska dUniversity of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska
Author disclosures
The authors report no actual or potential conflicts of interest or outside sources of funding with regard to this article.
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Federal Practitioner, Frontline Medical Communications Inc., the US Government, or any of its agencies.
Ethics and consent
This is a meta-analysis including already published clinical trials.
Elevated ALT levels developed in 27.9% of patients in the treatment group receiving mutant EGFR-TK inhibitors compared with 15.1% of patients in the control group receiving platinum-based chemotherapy. Overall RR of 1.37 and 95% CI was noted, which was statistically significant, confirming higher ALT levels in patients receiving EGFR-TK inhibitors for their advanced NSCLC (Figure 4).
Elevated AST levels occurred in 40.7% of patients in the mutant EGFR-TK inhibitors treatment group vs 12.8% of patients in the control group receiving platinum-based chemotherapy. Overall RR of 1.77 and 95% CI was noted, which was statistically significant, confirming elevated AST levels in patients receiving EGFR-TK inhibitors for their advanced NSCLC (Figure 5).
Stomatitis developed in 17.2% of patients in the treatment group receiving mutant EGFR-TK inhibitors compared with 7.9% of patients in the control group receiving platinum-based chemotherapy. Overall RR of 1.53 and 95% CI was noted, which was statistically significant, confirming higher stomatitis event rates in patients receiving EGFR-TK inhibitors for their advanced NSCLC (Figure 6).
Nausea occurred in 16.5% of patients in the mutant EGFR-TK inhibitors group vs 42.5% of patients in the control group receiving platinum-based chemotherapy. Overall RR of 0.37 and 95% CI was noted, which was statistically significant, confirming higher nausea rates in patients receiving platinum-based chemotherapy compared with treatment group for their advanced NSCLC (Figure 7).
Leucopenia developed in 9.7% of patients in the mutant EGFR-TK inhibitors group compared with 51.3% of patients in the control group receiving platinum-based chemotherapy. Overall RR of 0.18 and 95% CI was noted, which was statistically significant, confirming higher leucopenia incidence in patients receiving platinum-based chemotherapy compared with treatment group for their advanced NSCLC (Figure 8).
Fatigue was reported in 17% of patients in the mutant EGFR-TK inhibitors group compared with 29.5% of patients in the control group receiving platinum-based chemotherapy. Overall RR of 0.59 and 95% CI was noted, which was statistically significant, confirming higher fatigue rates in patients receiving platinum-based chemotherapy compared with treatment group for their advanced NSCLC (Figure 9).
