Publication date: Feb 01, 2025

Cancer-associated cachexia can inhibit immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy efficacy. Cachexia’s effect on ICI therapy has not been studied in large cohorts of cancer patients aside from lung cancer. We studied associations between real-world routinely collected clinical cachexia markers and disability-free, hospitalization-free and overall survival of cancer patients. A retrospective study was conducted of electronic health records (EHR) of patients with lung, renal cell, melanoma and other cancers treated with ICI therapy at Northwestern Medicine of Chicago, IL, United States, between March 2011 and January 2022. Weight, body mass index, absolute neutrophil and lymphocyte counts, albumin and C-reactive protein (CRP) measures were analysed to calculate the Fearon consensus criteria for cachexia, weight loss grading system (WLGS) score, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI) and modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS) at ICI therapy initiation. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards analyses were used to determine associations between these metrics and disability-free, hospitalization-free and overall survival. EHR analysis uncovered 3285 cancer patients on ICI therapy (54% > 65 years of age, 50. 7% male, 77. 7% White). At ICI therapy initiation, 1282 (39. 0%) patients had cachexia (consensus criteria), 1641 (50. 0%) had a WLGS score ≥ 2, 1806 (55. 0%) had an NLR > 3, 1087 (33. 1%) had albumin

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