title: Clinical management patterns and treatment outcomes in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) across Europe: EPICLIN-Lung study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Throughout Europe, physicians face similar challenges in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) management, but comprehensive international information on usual clinical practice is lacking so the burden of NSCLC is not fully understood.
  
  
  METHODS
  This multinational, multicentre, non-interventional study (NCT00831909) was conducted in eight European countries. Patients with confirmed NSCLC were consecutively enrolled from January to March 2009 and followed for 12 months or until death. Information was collected on patient and disease characteristics, diagnosis and treatment patterns, and clinical outcomes. Spontaneously reported adverse events (AEs) were also recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data were available for 3508 patients. Most patients (77.5%) were male, median (range) age was 65.0 years (21.6-90.7), the majority of patients had a World Health Organization performance status of ≤1 (74.7%), and 10.8% were never smokers. The most prevalent histologies were adenocarcinoma (43.8%) and squamous-cell carcinoma (29.4%). Most patients presented with advanced disease (11.6% with stage IIIA, 18.7% with stage IIIB, 48.6% with stage IV). In stage IV disease, median progression-free survival and overall survival (months) by first-line treatment cluster were platinum regimens: 6.5, 10.8; non-platinum regimens: 4.3, 8.5; regimens with bevacizumab 8.7, 12.9; investigational regimens: 5.6, 10.8; best supportive care: 5.4, 6.6. The most frequently reported severe (Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v3.0>2) AEs were blood/bone marrow (16.0%) and pulmonary/upper respiratory (7.8%). Key limitations of this study related to its non-interventional nature and wide regional focus; for example, achieving a representative sample of the overall NSCLC population, variation in recruitment between countries, and data based on information from medical records derived from routine visits.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Epidemiological Study to Describe NSCLC Clinical Management Pattern in Europe-Lung (EPICLIN-Lung) study provides new insights into the descriptive patterns and clinical management strategies for NSCLC across Europe, and how they affect patient outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Ramón y Cajal University Hospital , Madrid , Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carrato
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vergnenègre
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McBride
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Medina
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cruciani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000628:therapy*; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult