Fasting Blood Glucose Level in Locally Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: a New Prognostic Factor?

Hyperglycemia may lead to proliferation, invasion, apoptosis inhibition, migration, and eventually metastasis of cancer cells by several mechanisms. In this study, the effect of hyperglycemia on overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and locoregional recurrence (LRR) was investigated in NSCLC. One stage IIIA-IIIB NSCLC patient treated with chemoradiotherapy between 2010 and 2015 was enrolled. Fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels were recorded in pre-treatment, treatment, and post-treatment periods. Median age was 54 years (51-62). Fifty-two patients had squamous cell carcinoma (SCC); 19 had adenocarcinoma. Median follow-up was 19 (11-30), median survival was 19 (13-24), and DFS was 9 (7-11) months. Diabetic patients had shorter survival than non-diabetics 12 (95%CI, 10-14) vs. 25 months (95%CI,18-32), p = 0.005. Number of patients with LRR was also higher in diabetics compared to non-diabetics (8/12 vs. 11/37, p = 0.039). OS was shorter in patients with hyperglycemic-FBG and diabetic-FBG levels in pre-treatment period (log-rank p = 0.03 and 0.023, respectively). Diabetic-FBG level in pre-treatment period was found to be the only independent risk factor for survival. In subgroup analysis, these differences were apparent in SCC (log-rank p = 0.009 for hyperglicemic, log-rank p = 0.017 for diabetic-FBG). LRR was 68% in patients with diabetic-FBG, 36.5% in patients with non-diabetic-FBG in post-treatment period (p = 0.015). Patients with LRR had significantly higher median FBG value in post-treatment period compared to non-relapsing patients, 138 mg/dL (119-228) and 111 mg/dL (99-164), respectively (p = 0.022). The patients with hyperglycemic and diabetic-FBG levels in pre-treatment period had shorter survival compared to normoglycemic ones. The patients with diabetic-FBG level in post-treatment period had higher LRR, and relapsing patients had higher FBG levels in post-treatment period.