Abstract:
Objective This study investigated the impact of interstitial lung abnormalities (ILA) on the risk and prognosis of immune checkpoint inhibitor–related pneumonitis (CIP) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) receiving combination immunotherapy and chemotherapy.
Methods This study retrospectively reviewed the clinical and imaging data of 165 patients with NSCLC who received combination immunotherapy and chemotherapy at The First Hospital of Lanzhou University from June 2019 to June 2023. Clinical characteristics were compared between patients with and without ILA pre-treatment. Logistic regression analysis was employed to identify risk factors for CIP. The Kaplan–Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis were applied to evaluate the impact of ILA on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Survival differences between groups were compared using the Log-rank test.
Results Among the 165 patients, 42 (25.5%) presented with ILA at baseline. Baseline ILA was independently associated with CIP (odds ratio OR=2.808, 95% confidence intervals CI: 1.167-6.755, P=0.021). Additionally, both subpleural non-fibrotic ILA (OR=4.810, 95%CI: 1.729-13.382, P=0.003) and ground-glass opacity (OR=4.398, 95%CI: 1.536-12.594, P=0.006) were significantly associated with CIP. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that patients with baseline ILA had significantly short median PFS (198 d vs. 354 d, Log-rank P=0.022) and OS (359 d vs. 480 d, Log-rank P=0.010). Cox proportional hazards regression analysis confirmed that ILA served as an independent adverse prognostic factor for PFS (hazard ratio HR=2.140, 95%CI: 1.138-4.021, P=0.018) and OS (HR=2.276, 95%CI: 1.196-4.332, P=0.012).
Conclusions Patients with NSCLC with baseline ILA are at increased risk of developing CIP and experiencing worse survival outcomes following combined immunotherapy and chemotherapy. The elevated risk of CIP was significantly associated with non-fibrotic subpleural patterns and ground-glass opacities. Systematic pre-treatment ILA screening and risk stratification are recommended to guide individualized treatment decisions in advanced NSCLC.