Efficacy and treatment tolerance in older patients with NSCLC: a meta-analysis of five phase III randomized trials conducted by the Hellenic Oncology Research Group

Approximately 50% of newly diagnosed cases of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are observed in patients >65 years, while 30%–40% of cases occur in patients >70 years. The objective of the current study was to determine (i) the number of elderly (>70 years) patients with advanced/metastatic NSCLC enrolled in phase III trials of the Hellenic Oncology Research Group, (ii) the treatment-related toxicity observed in these patients compared with their younger counterparts, and (iii) the differences in terms of response rate, time to tumor progression (TTP), and overall survival (OS) between younger and older patients. Pooled data from five clinical trials including 1845 patients were analyzed; 1421 (77%) and 424 (23%) were