Incidence of late-onset pneumonia in patients after treatment with radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A nationwide population-based study.

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Incidence of late-onset pneumonia in patients after treatment with radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A nationwide population-based study.

Head Neck. 2015 Dec;37(12):1756-61

Authors: Yen TT, Lin CH, Jiang RS, Shih YT, Yen HR, Liang KL

Abstract
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence of late-onset pneumonia in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after radiotherapy.
METHODS: Data were retrieved from the National Health Institute Research Database of Taiwan. We identified patients diagnosed with NPC (International Classification of Disease 9th revision-Clinical Modification [ICD-9-CM] code 147) from January 2005 to December 2008 who received curative radiotherapy as the study cohort. Incidences of pneumonia and related sequelae after 90 days of radiotherapy were calculated.
RESULTS: A total of 3814 patients were enrolled in this study and 210 (5.5%) had late-onset pneumonia. The correlation coefficient between pneumonia and tube feeding was 0.332 (p < .001). The hazard ratio of pneumonia was 0.81 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.57-1.15) between patients with and without chemotherapy, and was 2.37 (95% CI = 1.73-3.24) between patients with and without re-radiation.
CONCLUSION: Late-onset pneumonia is not uncommon in patients with NPC after radiotherapy. The risks of associated sequelae and mortality cannot be ignored.

PMID: 24989452 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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