{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.03204353083434099, 'fraction_numerical': 0.07920193470374849, 'mean_word_length': 4.706896551724138, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Is survival improving in stage IV non-small cell lung cancer?

6577 Background: Non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) represents the number one cause of cancer mortality in the United States. Over several decades clinical research has focused on the development of new, more active chemotherapeutic drugs to improve survival. Over the time period from 1994 to 2003 six drugs have been approved for the treatment of metastatic NSCLC. We are presenting a population based analysis of the survival in patients with metastatic NSCLC in the US from 1981-1990, 1991-1997 and 1998-2003. We also provide a pharmaco-economic view of this observation.


METHODS
We analyzed the SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) program database for cancer specific survival rates in stage IV NSCLC patients who were diagnosed between 1980 and 2003 in the SEER catchment geographic areas. The primary exposure of interest was the year of diagnosis.


RESULTS
We identified 52,086 eligible patients in total. 8,950, 21,111 and 18,712 patients were diagnosed 1981 to1990, 1991 to 1997 and 1998 to 2003 respectively. The cox proportional hazard ratios were 0.97 (95% CI 0.94-0.99) and 0.85 (0.83-0.88) for the time periods 1991 to 1997 and 1998 to 2003, respectively, using the time period from 1981 to1990 as reference. This subtle increase in survival was strictly paralleled by increasing costs for the medical care of this patient population.


CONCLUSIONS
The survival of stage IV NSCLC patients seems to be mildly improving, what is paralleled by increasing cost for the care of those patients. [Table: see text] No significant financial relationships to disclose.