Accelerated versus standard epirubicin followed by cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil or capecitabine as adjuvant therapy for breast cancer (UK TACT2; CRUK/05/19): quality of life results from a multicentre, phase 3, open-label, randomised, controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with early breast cancer improves outcomes but its toxicity affects patients' quality of life (QOL). The UK TACT2 trial investigated whether accelerated epirubicin improves time to recurrence and if oral capecitabine is non-inferior to cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil (CMF) for efficacy with less toxicity. Results showed no benefit for accelerated epirubicin and capecitabine was non-inferior. As part of the QOL substudy, we aimed to assess the effect of chemotherapies on psychological distress, physical symptoms, and functional domains. METHODS: TACT2 was a multicentre, phase 3, open-label, parallel-group, randomised, controlled trial done in 129 UK centres. Participants were aged 18 years or older with histologically confirmed node-positive or high-risk node-negative invasive primary breast cancer, who had undergone complete excision, and due to receive adjuvant chemotherapy. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1:1:1) to four cycles of 100 mg/m2 epirubicin either every 3 weeks (standard epirubicin) or every 2 weeks with 6 mg pegfilgrastim on day 2 of each cycle (accelerated epirubicin), followed by four 4-week cycles of either CMF (600 mg/m2 cyclophosphamide intravenously on days 1 and 8 or 100 mg/m2 orally on days 1–14; 40 mg/m2 methotrexate intravenously on days 1 and 8; and 600 mg/m2 fluorouracil intravenously on days 1 and 8 of each cycle) or four 3-week cycles of 2500 mg/m2 capecitabine (1250 mg/m2 given twice daily on days 1–14 of each cycle). The randomisation schedule was computer generated in random permuted blocks, stratified by centre, number of nodes involved (none vs 1–3 vs ≥4), age (≤50 years vs >50 years), and planned endocrine treatment (yes vs no). QOL was one of the secondary outcomes and is reported here. All patients from a subset of 44 centres were invited to complete QOL questionnaires (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS] and European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer [EORTC] Quality of Life Questionnaire 30-item core module [QLQ-C30] and Quality of Life Questionnaire breast module [QLQ-BR23]) at baseline, end of standard or accelerated epirubicin, end of CMF or capecitabine, and at 12 and 24 months after randomisation. The QOL substudy prespecified two coprimary QOL outcomes assessed in the intention-to-treat population: overall QOL (reported elsewhere) and HADS total score. Prespecified secondary QOL outcomes were EORTC QLQ-C30 subscales of physical function, role function, and fatigue and EORTC QLQ-BR23 subscales of sexual function and systemic therapy side-effects. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, ISRCTN68068041, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00301925. FINDINGS: From Dec 16, 2005, to Dec 5, 2008, 4391 patients (20 [0·5%] of whom were male) were enrolled in TACT2; 1281 (85·8%) of 1493 eligible patients were included in the QOL substudy. Eight (0·6%) participants in the QOL substudy were male and 1273 (99·4%) were female. Median follow-up was 85·6 months (IQR 80·6–95·9). Analysis was performed on the complete QOL dataset (as of Sept 15, 2011) when all participants had passed the 24-month timepoint. Prerandomisation questionnaires were completed by 1172 (91·5%) patients and 1179 (92·0%) completed at least one postrandomisation questionnaire. End-of-treatment HADS depression score (p=0·0048) and HADS total change score (p=0·0093) were worse for CMF versus capecitabine. Accelerated epirubicin led to worse physical function (p=0·0065), role function (p<0·0001), fatigue (p=0·0002), and systemic side-effects (p=0·0001), but not sexual function (p=0·36), compared with standard epirubicin during treatment, but the effect did not persist. Worse physical function (p=0·0048), sexual function (p=0·0053), fatigue (p<0·0001), and systemic side-effects (p<0·0001), but not role functioning (p=0·013), were seen for CMF versus capecitabine at end of treatment; these differences persisted at 12 months and 24 months. INTERPRETATION: Accelerated epirubicin was associated with worse QOL than was standard epirubicin but only during treatment. These findings will help patients and clinicians make an informed choice about accelerated chemotherapy. CMF had worse QOL effects than did capecitabine, which were persistent for 24 months. The favourable capecitabine QOL compared with CMF supports its use as an adjuvant option after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with triple-negative breast cancer

Accelerated versus standard epirubicin followed by cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil or capecitabine as adjuvant therapy for breast cancer in the randomised UK TACT2 trial (CRUK/05/19): a multicentre, phase 3, open-label, randomised, controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Adjuvant chemotherapy for early breast cancer has improved outcomes but causes toxicity. The UK TACT2 trial used a 2×2 factorial design to test two hypotheses: whether use of accelerated epirubicin would improve time to tumour recurrence (TTR); and whether use of oral capecitabine instead of cyclophosphamide would be non-inferior in terms of patients' outcomes and would improve toxicity, quality of life, or both. METHODS: In this multicentre, phase 3, randomised, controlled trial, we enrolled patients aged 18 years or older from 129 UK centres who had histologically confirmed node-positive or high-risk node-negative operable breast cancer, had undergone complete excision, and were due to receive adjuvant chemotherapy. Patients were randomly assigned to receive four cycles of 100 mg/m2 epirubicin either every 3 weeks (standard epirubicin) or every 2 weeks with 6 mg pegfilgrastim on day 2 of each cycle (accelerated epirubicin), followed by four 4-week cycles of either classic cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil (CMF; 600 mg/m2 cyclophosphamide intravenously on days 1 and 8 or 100 mg/m2 orally on days 1-14; 40 mg/m2 methotrexate intravenously on days 1 and 8; and 600 mg/m2 fluorouracil intravenously on days 1 and 8 of each cycle) or four 3-week cycles of 2500 mg/m2 capecitabine (1250 mg/m2 given twice daily on days 1-14 of each cycle). The randomisation schedule was computer generated in random permuted blocks, stratified by centre, number of nodes involved (none vs one to three vs four or more), age (≤50 years vs >50 years), and planned endocrine treatment (yes vs no). The primary endpoint was TTR, defined as time from randomisation to first invasive relapse or breast cancer death, with intention-to-treat analysis of standard versus accelerated epirubicin and per-protocol analysis of CMF versus capecitabine. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, number 68068041, and with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00301925. FINDINGS: From Dec 16, 2005, to Dec 5, 2008, 4391 patients (4371 women and 20 men) were recruited. At a median follow-up of 85·6 months (IQR 80·6-95·9) no significant difference was seen in the proportions of patients free from TTR events between the accelerated and standard epirubicin groups (overall hazard ratio [HR] 0·94, 95% CI 0·81-1·09; stratified p=0·42). At 5 years, 85·9% (95% CI 84·3-87·3) of patients receiving standard epirubicin and 87·1% (85·6-88·4) of those receiving accelerated epirubicin were free from TTR events. 4358 patients were included in the per-protocol analysis, and no difference was seen in the proportions of patients free from TTR events between the CMF and capecitabine groups (HR 0·98, 95% CI 0·85-1.14; stratified p=0·00092 for non-inferiority). Compared with baseline, significantly more patients taking CMF than those taking capecitabine had clinically relevant worsening of quality of life at end of treatment (255 [58%] of 441 vs 235 [50%] of 475; p=0·011) and at 12 months (114 [34%] of 334 vs 89 [22%] of 401; p<0·001 at 12 months) and had worse quality of life over time (p<0·0001). Detailed toxicity and quality-of-life data were collected from 2115 (48%) of treated patients. The most common grade 3 or higher adverse events in cycles 1-4 were neutropenia (175 [16%]) and fatigue (56 [5%]) of the 1070 patients treated with standard epirubicin, and fatigue (63 [6%]) and infection (34 [3%]) of the 1045 patients treated with accelerated epirubicin. In cycles 5-8, the most common grade 3 or higher adverse events were neutropenia (321 [31%]) and fatigue (109 [11%]) in the patients treated with CMF, and hand-foot syndrome (129 [12%]) and diarrhoea (67 [6%]) in the 1044 patients treated with capcitabine. INTERPRETATION: We found no benefit from increasing the dose density of the anthracycline component of chemotherapy. However, capecitabine could be used in place of CMF without significant loss of efficacy and with improved quality of life. FUNDING: Cancer Research UK, Amgen, Pfizer, and Roche

Regional variation in hemoglobin distribution among individuals with chronic kidney disease: the ISN International Network of Chronic Kidney Disease (iNET-CKD) Cohorts

Introduction: Despite recognized geographic and sex-based differences in hemoglobin in the general population, these factors are typically ignored in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in whom a single therapeutic range for hemoglobin is recommended. We sought to compare the distribution of hemoglobin across international nondialysis CKD populations and evaluate predictors of hemoglobin.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, hemoglobin distribution was evaluated in each cohort overall and stratified by sex and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Relationships between candidate predictors and hemoglobin were assessed from linear regression models in each cohort. Estimates were subsequently pooled in a random effects model.Results: A total of 58,613 participants from 21 adult cohorts (median eGFR range of 17–49 ml/min) and 3 pediatric cohorts (median eGFR range of 26–45 ml/min) were included with broad geographic representation. Hemoglobin values varied substantially among the cohorts, overall and within eGFR categories, with particularly low mean hemoglobin observed in women from Asian and African cohorts. Across the eGFR range, women had a lower hemoglobin compared to men, even at an eGFR of 15 ml/min (mean difference 5.3 g/l, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.7–6.9). Lower eGFR, female sex, older age, lower body mass index, and diabetic kidney disease were all independent predictors of a lower hemoglobin value; however, this only explained a minority of variance (R2 7%–44% across cohorts).Conclusion: There are substantial regional differences in hemoglobin distribution among individuals with CKD, and the majority of variance is unexplained by demographics, eGFR, or comorbidities. These findings call for a renewed interest in improving our understanding of hemoglobin determinants in specific CKD populations.</p

Regional Variation in Hemoglobin Distribution Among Individuals With CKD: the ISN International Network of CKD Cohorts

Despite recognized geographic and sex-based differences in hemoglobin in the general population, these factors are typically ignored in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in whom a single therapeutic range for hemoglobin is recommended. We sought to compare the distribution of hemoglobin across international nondialysis CKD populations and evaluate predictors of hemoglobin

Examining the breadth and burden of chronic kidney disease in community-dwelling older adults

Introduction: Chronic kidney disease (CKD), characterised by reductions in glomerular filtration rate (GFR), is associated with premature mortality and end stage kidney disease. Older adults have the highest prevalence of CKD, however the relative risks of hard outcomes posed by reductions in GFR are lower in older people. There is a pressing need to better characterise the clinical phenotype of CKD in older age. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the burden of reduced GFR on the health and well-being of older adults by examining the association between GFR and more proximal outcomes. Methods: This thesis uses data from the first three waves of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), a cluster-sampled cohort of Irish community-dwelling adults aged ?50 years. The distributions of kidney biomarkers as a function of age were flexibly modelled using the Box-Cox Power Exponential distribution. Plots of predicted GFR per year of age were generated, weighted to be representative of the target population. We examined the cross-sectional relationships between GFR and three objective tests of physical performance ? gait speed, timed-up-and-go (TUG) and grip strength. These associations were explored further using cubic splines of GFR. The longitudinal associations between GFR and repeated measures of gait speed and TUG were investigated using mixed effects models. The association between GFR and quality of life (QoL) was assessed using the Control Autonomy Self-realisation and Pleasure scale, which encompasses both positive and negative aspects of QoL at older age. We investigated the relationship between GFR and postural blood pressure (BP) responses, captured by beat-to-beat BP measurements during a 2-minute active stand test. Results: The shape of the cystatin C distribution with age was markedly different to that of creatinine, exhibiting a sharp rise beyond the age of 65 years. This contributed to a higher predicted probability of confirming CKD using cystatin C at older age. The prevalence of CKD varied between 14% and 19% depending on the GFR estimating equation, and demonstrated a steep age gradient. Cubic splines of GFR illustrated a non-linear association between creatinine-based GFR and physical function outcomes, likely due to age-related declines in muscle mass. GFR estimated from cystatin C demonstrated more linear associations with all physical performance outcomes, a pattern which became more evident at older ages. Unadjusted mixed effects models suggested that lower levels of GFR were associated with greater declines in TUG and gait speed over time, indicated by a statistically significant time*GFR interaction. This interaction did not retain statistical significance after adjusting for demographic variables. GFR estimated from cystatin C, but not from creatinine, predicted lower QoL scores, especially in participants aged 50-64 years compared to older age categories. The multivariable association between GFR and QoL, while statistically significant, was clinically modest. Participants with lower levels of GFR exhibited greater impairments in BP stabilisation after standing, independent of cardiovascular risk factors and antihypertensive medications. Conclusions: The changing distribution of cystatin C with age, and the high pre-test probability of confirming CKD at older ages, question the utility of cystatin C as a confirmatory test of CKD across the age range. Plots of expected GFR per year of age may prove useful to clinicians, by framing an older person?s GFR result in the context of population-representative data. The findings suggest that GFR is a marker, rather than a driver, of declines in physical performance. A reduced GFR does not appear to substantially affect the QoL of an older person. The granular health measures in TILDA facilitate exploration of novel research questions, such as the relationship between GFR and postural BP behaviour. Future studies will build on the hypotheses generated in this thesis and leverage the rich longitudinal data in TILDA to create a more holistic picture of the CKD phenotype in older people

Single Agent Antihypertensive Therapy and Orthostatic Blood Pressure Behaviour in Older Adults Using Beat-to-Beat Measurements: The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.

Background Impaired blood pressure (BP) stabilisation after standing, defined using beat-to-beat mea- surements, has been shown to predict important health outcomes. We aimed to define the relationship between individual classes of antihypertensive agent and BP stabilisation among hypertensive older adults. Methods Cross-sectional analysis from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, a cohort study of Irish adults aged 50 years and over. Beat-to-beat BP was recorded in participants undergo- ing an active stand test. We defined grade 1 hypertension according to European Society of Cardiology criteria (systolic BP [SBP] 140-159mmHg ? diastolic BP [DBP] 90-99mmHg). Outcomes were: (i) initial orthostatic hypotension (IOH) (SBP drop 40mmHg ? DBP drop 20mmHg within 15 seconds [s] of standing accompanied by symptoms); (ii) sustained OH (SBP drop 20mmHg ? DBP drop 10mmHg from 60 to 110s inclusive); (iii) impaired BP stabilisation (SBP drop 20mmHg ? DBP drop 10mmHg at any 10s interval during the test). Outcomes were assessed using multivariable-adjusted logistic regression. Results A total of 536 hypertensive participants were receiving monotherapy with a renin-angioten- sin-aldosterone-system inhibitor (n = 317, 59.1%), beta-blocker (n = 89, 16.6%), calcium channel blocker (n = 89, 16.6%) or diuretic (n = 41, 7.6%). A further 783 untreated partici- pants met criteria for grade 1 hypertension. Beta-blockers were associated with increased odds of initial OH (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.31 ? 3.21) and sustained OH (OR 3.36, 95% CI 1.87 ? 6.03) versus untreated grade 1 hypertension

Single agent antihypertensive therapy and orthostatic blood pressure behaviour in older adults using beat-to-beat measurements: The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing

Background Impaired blood pressure (BP) stabilisation after standing, defined using beat-to-beat measurements, has been shown to predict important health outcomes. We aimed to define the relationship between individual classes of antihypertensive agent and BP stabilisation among hypertensive older adults. Methods Cross-sectional analysis from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, a cohort study of Irish adults aged 50 years and over. Beat-to-beat BP was recorded in participants undergoing an active stand test. We defined grade 1 hypertension according to European Society of Cardiology criteria (systolic BP [SBP] 140-159mmHg +/- diastolic BP [DBP] 90-99mmHg). Outcomes were: (i) initial orthostatic hypotension (IOH) (SBP drop >= 40mmHg +/- DBP drop >= 20mmHg within 15 seconds [s] of standing accompanied by symptoms); (ii) sustained OH (SBP drop >= 20mmHg +/- DBP drop >= 10mmHg from 60 to 110s inclusive); (iii) impaired BP stabilisation (SBP drop >= 20mmHg +/- DBP drop >= 10mmHg at any 10s interval during the test). Outcomes were assessed using multivariable-adjusted logistic regression. Results A total of 536 hypertensive participants were receiving monotherapy with a renin-angiotensin-aldosterone-system inhibitor (n = 317, 59.1%), beta-blocker (n = 89, 16.6%), calcium channel blocker (n = 89, 16.6%) or diuretic (n = 41, 7.6%). A further 783 untreated participants met criteria for grade 1 hypertension. Beta-blockers were associated with increased odds of initial OH (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.31-3.21) and sustained OH (OR 3.36, 95% CI 1.87-6.03) versus untreated grade 1 hypertension. Multivariable adjustment did not attenuate the results. Impaired BP stabilisation was evident at 20s (OR 2.59, 95% CI 1.58-4.25) and persisted at 110s (OR 2.90, 95% CI 1.64-5.11). No association was found between the other agents and any study outcome. Conclusion Beta-blocker monotherapy was associated with a >2-fold increased odds of initial OH and a >3-fold increased odds of sustained OH and impaired BP stabilisation, compared to untreated grade 1 hypertension. These findings support existing literature questioning the role of beta-blockers as first line agents for essential hypertension