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Background: To the authors' knowledge, race‐based differences in efficacy for the treatment of patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have not been studied to date due to the underrepresentation of patients of minority backgrounds in pivotal trials. In the current study, the authors examined real‐world differences in outcome in a diverse patient population. Methods: The authors retrospectively analyzed the clinical outcomes of patients with advanced NSCLC who were treated with single‐agent immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) between 2013 and July 2018 at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Primary efficacy comparison between Black patients and White patients was performed using bivariate and multivariate analyses for overall survival (OS) and progression‐free survival (PFS). Results: Data from 257 patients were analyzed. The median age of the patients was 69 years; 50.6% of the patients were female, 63.4% were White, 29.5% were Black, and 7.1% of the patients were of "other" race. ICB was the first‐line treatment in 51 patients (19.9%), the second‐line treatment in 161 patients (62.6%), and the third‐line treatment in 33 patients (12.9%). The most commonly used agents were nivolumab (49.0%), pembrolizumab (25.2%), and atezolizumab (21.3%). No differences with regard to OS (P =.839) and PFS (P =.235) were noted between Black and White patients. The sample overall response rate was 20.6% (15.2% in Black patients and 23.1% in White patients). No differences with regard to OS (P =.081) and PFS (P =.176) were observed between female and male patients. The rate of immune‐related adverse events was found to be similar in Black and White patients (20.0% vs 29.9%; P =.148). On multivariate analysis, race was not found to be significantly associated with OS or PFS. Conclusions: Real‐world analysis of the authors' institutional experience demonstrated similar efficacy and tolerability of ICB in Black versus White patients with advanced NSCLC. Larger multi‐institutional studies including other US minority populations would make the findings of the current study more generalizable. In the current study, the authors perform a retrospective analysis of overall survival (OS) and progression‐free survival (PFS) among patients with non–small cell lung cancer who were treated with single‐agent immune checkpoint blockade between 2013 and 2018. The data indicate similar outcomes between Black and White patients with regard to OS, PFS, and the rate of immune‐related adverse events. Large studies are needed to make these findings more generalizable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Body mass index (BMI) is used to define obesity, but it is an imperfect measure of body composition. In the current study, the authors explored the association between types of fat and survival in patients treated with immunotherapy.Methods: A retrospective analysis of 90 patients who were treated with immunotherapy on phase 1 clinical trials at the Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta, Georgia, from 2009 through 2017 was performed. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were used to measure clinical outcomes. Baseline BMI and radiographic images at the middle of the third lumbar vertebrae were obtained. Fat densities were calculated and converted to indices (subcutaneous fat index [SFI], intermuscular fat index [IFI], and visceral fat index [VFI]) after dividing by height in meters squared. Risk groups were created using recursive partitioning and the regression trees method for SFI and IFI, which were selected by stepwise variable selection among all fat-related variables. The Cox proportional hazards model and Kaplan-Meier method were used for the association with OS and PFS.Results: The majority of patients (59%) were male and diagnosed with melanoma (33%) or gastrointestinal cancers (22%). The median BMI was 27.4 kg/m2 , the median SFI was 62.78, the median IFI was 4.06, and the median VFI was 40.53. Low-risk patients (those with an SFI ≥73) had a significantly longer OS (hazard ratio, 0.20; 95% CI, 0.09-0.46 [P < .001]) and PFS (hazard ratio, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.20-0.72 [P = .003]) compared with patients at intermediate risk (those with an SFI <73 and IFI <3.4) and poor risk (those with an SFI <73 and IFI ≥3.4). The Uno concordance statistics were found to be higher for fat risk groups than BMI in predicting OS (0.603 vs 0.574; P = .581) and PFS (0.602 vs 0.586; P = .71).Conclusions: Increased BMI, increased SFI, and decreased IFI may be associated with prolonged survival in patients with cancer who are treated with immunotherapy. Further studies are needed to elucidate the effect of adiposity on the host immune response to immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]