Determining Racial Disparities Related to Acute Kidney Injury in NSCLC

Nino Balanchivadze, MD, FACP, senior administrative fellow of the Hematology and Oncology Fellowship Program at Henry Ford Cancer Institute, discusses the methods used in the retrospective analysis of KEYNOTE-189 study (NCT02578680), to determine the differences in the rate of renal toxicity based on race in patients with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

According to Balanchivadze, investigators used medical records of self-identified Black and White patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC who were treated with a combination of platinum pemetrexed and pembrolizumab (Keytruda) at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan. Serum creatine was recorded, and promoter filtration rate was calculated before the first cycle and throughout treatment. Acute kidney injury was defined as an increase in serum creatinine 1.5 times that of baseline value and a glomerular filtration rate greater than 30%.

0:08 | As part of the study, we analyzed medical records of self-identified Black and White patients with advanced non-squamous non–small cell lung cancer, who are treated with the platinum pemetrexed and pembrolizumab between January 1, 2017, and November 12, 2021. At Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan, we have recorded serum creatine and calculated promoter filtration rate before the first cycle, the combination treatment and over the duration of the therapy as well as prior to death if that was applicable. We defined acute kidney injury as an increase in serum creatinine 1.5 times that baseline value, and the reduction in glomerular filtration rate of greater than 30% was considered significant.