Real-world evidence of treatment patterns and survival of metastatic gastric cancer patients in Germany.

backgroundPatients with metastatic gastric cancer (mGC) have poor prognosis. This real-world study aimed to describe treatment regimens and survival of mGC patients.

methodsA retrospective analysis was conducted using anonymized German claims data (AOK PLUS) covering a period from 2010 to 2021. The study population included newly diagnosed mGC cases identified from 2011 to 2020. The index date was defined as the first diagnosis of metastasis on or after gastric cancer diagnosis. Therapy regimens were identified based on inpatient and outpatient data, and subsequently stratified by line of treatment. Survival analyses were conducted using the Kaplan-Meier method.

resultsThe cohort consisted of 5,278 mGC incident cases (mean age: 72.7 years; male: 61.9%). Nearly half of the incident cases received mGC-related treatment (49.8%). Treated patients were more often male, younger, and had fewer comorbidities compared to untreated patients. Of the 2,629 mGC patients who started the first line of treatment (1LOT), 32.8% switched to 2LOT, and 10.2% reached 3LOT. Longer survival time was observed among disease-specific treated cases compared with untreated cases (median real-world overall survival (rwOS): 12.7 months [95%CI 12.1 - 13.3 months] vs. 3.7 months [95%CI 3.4 - 4.0 months]).

conclusionSystemic therapy was not received in almost half of the mGC patients. In those patients, a very short median rwOS was observed. Treatment patterns were generally in line with the guideline recommendations, however, therapy switching rates and poor prognosis indicate high unmet needs also in the treated population.