QUALITY-OF-LIFE BENEFIT IN CHEMOTHERAPY PATIENTS TREATED WITH EPOETIN-ALPHA IS INDEPENDENT OF DISEASE RESPONSE OR TUMOR TYPE - RESULTS FROMA PROSPECTIVE COMMUNITY ONCOLOGY STUDY

Purpose: To evaluate prospectively the effectiveness of epoetin alfa a s an adjunct to chemotherapy in patients with cancer based on changes in quality-of-life parameters and hemoglobin levels, and to correlate these changes with antitumor response. Patients and Methods: Two thous and three hundred seventy patients with nonmyeloid malignancies who re ceived chemotherapy were enrolled onto this study from 621 US communit y-based practices. Patients received epoetin alfa 10,000 U three times weekly, which could be increased to 20,000 U three times weekly depen ding on the hemoglobin response at 4 weeks, Treatment continued for a maximum of 16 weeks in patients who showed evidence of hematologic res ponse. Results: Two thousand two hundred eighty-nine patients (97%) we re eligible for efficacy analyses. Epoetin alfa therapy was associated with improved quality of life parameters; these improvements correlat ed significantly with hemoglobin levels and were independent of tumor response, Provider reported Karnofsky performance scores did not corre late with the improved quality-of-life changes. Epoetin alfa therapy w as also associated with a significant increase in hemoglobin levels an d decrease in transfusion use, Tumor type, chemotherapy agent/regimen, prior chemotherapy, baseline hemoglobin level, and baseline erythropo ietin level were not predictive of a positive response to treatment. E poetin alfa was well tolerated. Conclusion: Epoetin alfa appears to ha ve a beneficial impact on patient reported functional capacity and qua lity of life in patients with cancer who received chemotherapy indepen dent of tumor response, Concordantly, epoetin alfa appeared to increas e hemoglobin levels and decrease transfusion use. patients responded a cross all tumor types, The results suggest that epoetin alfa effective ly improves functional outcomes in patients with cancer who receive ch emotherapy. (C) 1998 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.