Quality of Life and Side Effects Management in Lung Cancer Treatment

Despite significant advances in the treatment of lung cancer, particularly with the evolution of immunotherapies and targeted therapies, the symptom burden is still significant and impact on quality of life for these patients. One-third of lung cancer patients experienced moderate-to-severe symptoms in one study before initial treatment, with significantly higher incidence after treatment and as disease progresses. The symptom burden in lung cancer patients is, for many symptoms, higher than in other cancer diagnostic groups, as shown in an observational study of more than 120,000 cancer patients. Most frequent symptoms include fatigue, pain, psychological distress, breathlessness and cough, while histology and cancer stage differentially affect those symptoms, further affecting multiple domains of quality of life. In advanced-stage lung cancer patients, high symptom burden has been significantly associated with overall survival, progression free survival, and objective response rate.