Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the Graz cohort—distribution overall and by progression-free survival (PFS) event status.
| Variable | n (% miss.) |
Overall (n = 90) |
No Progression or Death (n = 31) | Progression or Death (n = 59) | p * |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demographic characteristics | |||||
| Age at ICI initiation (years) | 90 (0%) | 67 (59–74) | 69 (57–76) | 66 (60–73) | 0.527 |
| Female gender | 90 (0%) | 44 (49%) | 11 (35%) | 33 (56%) | 0.065 |
| BMI at ICI initiation (kg/m²) | 83 (8%) | 24.3 (20.7–27.3) | 25.2 (21.2–29.7) | 24.2 (20.5–27.2) | 0.391 |
| Charlson comorbidity index at ICI initiation (points) | 90 (0%) | 8 (5–9) | 8 (5–10) | 8 (5–9) | 0.317 |
| Past or present smoker | 86 (4%) | 67 (78%) | 23 (77%) | 44 (79%) | 0.839 |
| ECOG at ICI initiation (points) | 59 (34%) | 0 (0–1) | 1 (0–1) | 0 (0–1) | 0.843 |
| Second primary malignancy at any time | 86 (4%) | 18 (21%) | 5 (17%) | 13 (23%) | 0.477 |
| Tumor variables | |||||
| Adenocarcinoma | 90 (0%) | 65 (72%) | 21 (68%) | 44 (75%) | 0.492 |
| Stage IV at initial NSCLC diagnosis | 90 (0%) | 55 (61%) | 16 (52%) | 39 (66%) | 0.180 |
| EGFR mutation | 73 (19%) | 2 (3%) | 1 (4%) | 1 (2%) | 0.999 |
| EML4–ALK rearrangement | 73 (19%) | 1 (1%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (2%) | 0.999 |
| ROS1 overexpression | 61 (32%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | N/A |
| BRAF mutation | 23 (74%) | 2 (9%) | 1 (8%) | 1 (9%) | 0.999 |
| PD-L1 expression (%) | 68 (24%) | 45 (1–80) | 60 (15–88) | 15 (0–80) | 0.087 |
| Treatment prior ICI | |||||
| Primary treatment intent: curative ** | 90 (0%) | 32 (36%) | 14 (45%) | 18 (31%) | 0.168 |
| ---Any neoadjuvant therapy (RTx, CTx, RCTx) | 32 (0%) | 8 (25%) | 4 (29%) | 4 (22%) | 0.681 |
| ---Any definitive RCTx | 32 (0%) | 6 (19%) | 4 (29%) | 2 (11%) | 0.365 |
| ---Any curative surgery | 32 (0%) | 23 (72%) | 9 (64%) | 14 (78%) | 0.400 |
| ---Any adjuvant therapy (CTx, RTx) | 32 (0%) | 12 (38%) | 3 (21%) | 9 (50%) | 0.147 |
| ICI treatment variables | |||||
| ICI treatment line | 90 (0%) | / | / | / | 0.170 |
| ---1st-line | / | 38 (42%) | 17 (55%) | 21 (36%) | / |
| ---2nd-line | / | 44 (49%) | 11 (35%) | 33 (56%) | / |
| ---3rd, 4th or 5th-line | / | 8 (9%) | 3 (10%) | 5 (8%) | / |
| ICI agent | 90 (0%) | / | / | / | 0.176 |
| ---nivolumab | / | 49 (54%) | 12 (39%) | 37 (63%) | / |
| ---pembrolizumab | / | 37 (41%) | 17 (55%) | 20 (34%) | / |
| ---Atezolizumab | / | 4 (4%) | 2 (6%) | 2 (4%) | / |
| ICI in more than 1 treatment line | 90 (0%) | 1 (1%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (2%) | 0.999 |
| Number of ICI cycles | 81 (10%) | 5 (3–15) | 7 (3–21) | 5 (2–14) | 0.280 |
| Laboratory variables | |||||
| CRP at baseline (mg/L) | 85 (6%) | 21.6 (7.7–66.1) | 14.0 (5.9–65.3) | 25.5 (8.7–72.6) | 0.258 |
| NLR at baseline (units) | 82 (9%) | 4.7 (3.1–8.9) | 4.6 (3.2–7.6) | 4.7 (3.0–9.2) | 0.807 |
| LDH at baseline (IU/L) | 82 (9%) | 263 (199–347) | 251 (183–313) | 270 (206–398) | 0.240 |
| LIPI score at baseline | 81 (10%) | / | / | / | 0.915 |
| ---0 points | / | 22 (27%) | 8 (30%) | 14 (26%) | / |
| ---1 point | / | 36 (44%) | 12 (44%) | 24 (44%) | / |
| ---2 points | / | 23 (28%) | 7 (26%) | 16 (30%) | / |
| Overall number of CRP measurements | N/A | 2090 | 595 | 1495 | N/A |
| Number of CRP measurements per patient | 90 (0%) | 18 (9–31) | 13 (7–26) | 19 (11–32) | 0.059 |
| Average of all available CRP measurements (mg/L) | 2090 (0%) | 17.8 (5.1–60.9) | 5.5 (1.8–16.5) | 29.0 (8.7–73.2) | <0.0001 |
Data are medians (25th–75th percentile) for continuous data and absolute frequencies (%) for count data. n (% miss.) reports the number of patients with fully observed data for the respective variable (% missing). * p-values are from rank-sum tests, Fisher’s exact tests and χ2 tests, as appropriate. ** Variables in the section “Treatment prior ICI” are with n = 32 patients and the missingness percentage was consequently scaled to 100% for n = 32. Abbreviations: ICI—immune checkpoint inhibitor; BMI—body mass index; ECOG—Eastern cooperation oncology group performance status; NSCLC—non-small cell lung cancer; EGFR—epidermal growth factor receptor; EML4–ALK—Echinoderm microtubule associated protein-like 4 anaplastic lymphoma kinase; ROS1– ROS proto-oncogene 1; BRAF—v-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B; PD-L1—programmed death ligand 1; RTx—radiotherapy; CTx—chemotherapy; RCTx—chemoradiation; CRP—C-reactive protein; NLR—neutrophil lymphocyte ratio; LDH—lactate dehydrogenase; LIPI—lung immune prognostic index; N/A—not applicable.