Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: PURPOSE: Survival discrepancy between male and female patients in lung cancer is a well-known, but still poorly understood phenomenon. Previous studies have used different patient cohorts and clinical covariates and have not included obesity, which is associated with longer lung cancer survival. We evaluated the relationship between survival, obesity, sex and other covariates using comprehensive, harmonized patient cohorts and a federated analysis approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Initial analyses were done in a retrospective, real-world cohort of 7,327 patients with lung cancer diagnosed at the Helsinki University Hospital from 2015 to 2024. Patients were stratified by BMI, and univariate and multivariate analyses of survival were performed. External validation of univariate analyses was performed on data from four European university hospitals (n = 12,700). RESULTS: < .01). Similar trends were observed in the validation sites, with some variation. The largest effect of high BMI was observed in squamous cell carcinoma. When full multivariate analysis was performed separately for high and normal BMI patients, the effect of male sex on survival was 32% smaller among high BMI patients. CONCLUSION: Higher BMI was associated with reduced survival gap between sexes, emphasizing the value of comprehensive covariate reporting in future clinical trials and observational studies.
Source: JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics
DOI: 10.1200/cci-25-00263
Authors: Alexey Ryzhenkov, Salma Rachidi, Valtteri Nieminen, Marianna Niemi, Mads Albrecht Andersen, Johanna Niklander, Juuso Paajanen, Pooja Bhatnagar, Andreas Bjerrum, Paula Kauppi, Stelios Theophanous, Wei Hai Deng, Zarah Van Schoor, Annelies Verbiest, Åslaug Helland, Johanna Sanoja, Annelies Janssens, Aija Knuuttila, Ilkka Ilonen, Eric Fey, Kimmo Porkka
Language: English
Subfield: Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7148557748