Citations 40

Association of lifestyle factors and pathological characteristics in patients with early breast cancer and overweight/obesity: Results from the Breast Cancer Weight Loss (BWEL) trial.

Journal of Clinical Oncology | May 28, 2025 | Volume: 43 | Issue: 16_suppl | Pages: 561-561

10.1200/jco.2025.43.16_suppl.561

561 Background: Obesity and other lifestyle factors are associated with breast cancer (BC) risk and outcomes. These relationships appear to vary in pre- vs postmenopausal women. Here we explore associations between pathological features, diet quality and physical activity (PA) in patients (pts) with BC enrolled in the BWEL (Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology A011401) trial, stratifying for menopausal status. Methods: BWEL is a phase III trial evaluating the impact of a weight loss intervention on disease outcomes in 3180 pts with stage II-III HER2– BC and body mass index ≥27 kg/m 2 . The first 542 BWEL pts underwent assessment of PA (7-Day PA Recall) and diet (24-hour Diet Recall) at enrollment. Healthy Eating Index 2020 (HEI) score (0-100, higher value = healthier diet) and minutes/week (min/wk) of moderate/vigorous PA (MVPA) were calculated. Estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) expression level (%) were abstracted from pathology reports. Analyses of links between HEI score, MVPA min/wk, % ER/PR, stratified by menopausal status, were conducted using t-tests; differential associations by menopausal status used linear regression models with interaction term. Results: In 523 pts with available pathology data, 76.5% had ER/PR+ BC, 56.2% were postmenopausal. Median HEI score was 50.1 (range 18.1-96.4), median MVPA min/wk was 0 (range 0-630), median time from diagnosis to enrollment was 10.0 months (range 2.4-13.1). In postmenopausal pts, higher diet quality was linked to increased % ER and PR (HEI above vs below median, mean % ER 78.0 vs 66.1, p=0.012; mean % PR 57.7 vs 43.1, p=0.004). The relationship between HEI score and % ER/PR differed significantly by menopausal status (interaction term of menopausal status and % ER: p=0.006; and % PR: p=0.012); there were no significant associations between HEI scores and % ER/PR in premenopausal pts. There were no significant associations between PA and % ER/PR. Conclusions: Healthier diet was associated with higher % ER and PR in postmenopausal pts with BC, but no relationship was seen in premenopausal pts. These data suggest that lifestyle factors may influence BC pathologic features related to outcomes in older women. Support: U10CA180821, U10CA180882, UG1CA189823, U24CA196171, https://acknowledgments.alliancefound.org . Clinical trial information: NCT02750826 . % ER mean (SD) p value % PR mean (SD) p value Post-Menopausal HEI* score≤50.1 [n=134]>50.1 [n=156] 66.1 (43.3)78.0 (36.8) 0.012 43.1 (41.8)57.7 (41.0) 0.004 MVPA † min/wk0 [n=147]≥1 [n=147] 74.5 (39.3)70.3 (41.2) 0.37 50.0 (41.8)53.0 (42.0) 0.41 Pre-Menopausal HEI* score≤50.1 [n=124]>50.1 [n=103] 70.5 (38.5)65.5 (43.0) 0.15 53.5 (41.1)49.1 (43.0) 0.43 MVPA † min/wk0 [n=112]≥1 [n=113] 66.3 (41.0)66.3 (41.2) 0.99 49.5 (41.4)52.6 (42.7) 0.59 *Healthy Eating Index. † Moderate/Vigorous Physical Activity.
Representation of Minorities in Therapeutic Clinical Trials - a 15-Year Review of Lymphoma Cooperative Group Studies (Alliance A152123)

Blood | December 5, 2024 | Volume: 144 | Issue: Supplement 1 | Pages: 110-110

10.1182/blood-2024-209365

Introduction: Health disparities negatively impact outcomes of patients (pts) with hematologic malignancies. Limited retrospective data correlating health disparities with lymphoma outcomes prohibit proper identification of reversible causes and elaboration of potential interventions. We present data from a coordinated effort between the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) cooperative groups (Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology [Alliance], Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group [ECOG], and the Southwest Oncology Group [SWOG]) to catalog the racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic characteristics of pts with lymphoma to better understand the quality of data collected, analyze selected health disparity indicators, and develop a prospective data collection tool. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of demographic data from pts with lymphoma enrolled on 32 cooperative group therapeutic trials between 2005 and 2020. Special focus was placed on data regarding race, ethnicity, and proxies that help identify socioeconomic status (health insurance, residential zip code, Social Deprivation Index [SDI]). These were evaluated in relation to histology-based metrics from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) Program with reported data through 2022. Here, our focus is to characterize baseline demographic and disparities data on the collection of these 32 NCTN lymphoma trials. Results: A total of 3,897 pts were included, with 3,406 non-Hodgkin lymphoma (87.4%) - 1,644 diffuse large B-cell (DLBCL, 48.3%), 905 follicular (26.6%), 669 mantle cell (19.6%), 113 primary central nervous system (3.3%), 75 T-cell (2.2%) - and 491 Hodgkin lymphoma (12.6%). Age at registration was available for 3,891 pts with median age 57.1 years (range: 18-92). The majority of patients were male (58.8%; one pt missing biological sex data). Race data were available for all but one patient, where most pts were white (W, 86.6%), followed by 246 African American (AA, 6.3%), 99 Asian (A, 2.5%), 13 American Indian or Alaska Native (AI, 0.3%), 8 Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (PI, 0.2%), 11 with more than 1 race reported (0.3%), and 145 with unknown/not reported race. Ethnicity data were unknown for 327 pts (8.4%) with 179 Hispanic or Latino (Hisp, 4.6%). Combined race/ethnicity data showed 3,010 non-Hisp white (NHW, 77.2%) and 219 non-Hisp black (NHB, 5.6%). For comparison, in the SEER database, 84.7% of all lymphoma cases were W, with 8.6% AA, 5.2% A/PI, 0.4% AI, and 1.1% unknown race, and with 13.9% of pts reported as Hisp. When focusing on the 804 pts enrolled on Alliance CALGB 50303 and ECOG-ACRIN 1412 studies, two randomized DLBCL studies, there was a more proportional representation of W and AA pts with DLBCL - 82.1% and 9.8% compared 84.6% and 7.7%, respectively, at SEER database, with 5.3% Hisp (with another 5.3% unknown) compared to 14.9% at SEER. Insurance information was missing in 113 pts. Of the remainder, 2,102 pts had private insurance only (55.6%), 549 with a mix of private and public (14.5%), 701 public only (18.5%, including 11.4% Medicare, 4.5% Medicaid, 0.8% both), and 166 self-pay (4.4%). Year-matched SDI score was available in 2,885 pts, where higher SDI scores = higher social deprivation. The total mean SDI score for the overall cohort was 42.5 with significant differences observed based on race/ethnicity and insurance type. Specifically, NHW were from less deprived areas (mean SDI=38.8) than NHB (66.4) or Hisp (65.5) (p<0.0001). Those without insurance (mean SDI=52.6) or only public insurance (48.9) were located in areas associated with greater deprivation compared to pts with private (40.1) or public+private (38.8) insurance (p<0.0001). Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the largest retrospective catalog of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic characteristics of pts with lymphoma enrolled on cooperative group therapeutic trials. The scope of NCTN cooperative group lymphoma studies provides a unique opportunity to assess novel therapeutic outcomes for patients representing racial, ethnic and socioeconomic subgroups with both common and rare lymphoma subtypes. From this resource, additional analyses on relationships between SDI, race/ethnicity, insurance coverage, disease subtype, and temporal trends will be presented. Support: U10CA180821, U10CA180882, UG1CA189823
Representation of women in clinical trials supporting FDA ‐approval of contemporary cancer therapies

International Journal of Cancer | August 19, 2024 | Volume: 155 | Issue: 11 | Pages: 1958-1968

10.1002/ijc.35110 | PMID 39155749

Abstract Contemporary anticancer therapies frequently have different efficacy and side effects in men and women. Yet, whether women are well‐represented in pivotal trials supporting contemporary anticancer drugs is unknown. Leveraging the Drugs@FDA database, clinicaltrials.gov , MEDLINE, and publicly available FDA‐drug‐reviews, we identified all pivotal (phase II and III) non‐sex specific trials supporting FDA‐approval of anticancer drugs (1998–2018). Observed‐enrollment‐rates were compared to expected‐population‐rates derived from concurrent US‐National‐Cancer‐Institute's Surveillance‐Epidemiology‐and‐End‐Results (SEER) reported rates and US‐Census databases. Primary outcome was the proportional representation of women across trials, evaluated by a participation‐to‐prevalence ratio (PPR), according to cancer type. Secondary outcome was the report of any sex‐specific analysis of efficacy and/or safety, irrespective of treatment‐arm. Overall, there were 148 trials, enrolling 60,216 participants (60.5 ± 4.0 years, 40.7% female, 79.1% biologic, targeted, or immune‐based therapies) evaluating 99 drugs. Sex was reported in 146 (98.6%) trials, wherein 40.7% (24,538) were women, compared to 59.3% (35,678) men ( p < .01). Altogether, women were under‐represented in 66.9% trials compared to the proportional incidence of cancers by respective disease type; weight‐average PPR of 0.91 (relative difference: ‐9.1%, p < .01). Women were most under‐represented in gastric (PPR = 0.63), liver (PPR = 0.71), and lung (PPR = .81) cancer trials. Sex‐based safety data was reported in 4.0% trials. There was no association between adequate female enrollment and drug efficacy (HR: 0.616 vs. 0.613, p = .96). Over time, there was no difference in the percentage of women recruited into clinical trials. Among pivotal clinical trials supporting contemporary FDA‐approved cancer drugs, women were frequently under‐represented and sex‐specific‐efficacy and safety‐outcomes were commonly not reported.
Alliance A151945: Accrual and characteristics of adolescent and young adult patients in Alliance trials from 2000 to 2017

Cancer | November 2, 2023 | Volume: 130 | Issue: 5 | Pages: 750-769

10.1002/cncr.35078 | PMID 37916800

AbstractBackgroundIdentifying patient‐ and disease‐specific characteristics associated with clinical trial enrollment of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer may target efforts to improve accrual.MethodsAlliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (Alliance) trials opened from January 1, 2000, and closed before January 1, 2018, for common AYA cancers were identified. Proportions of AYAs (aged 18–39 years old) versus non‐AYAs (aged ≥40 years old) enrolled by cancer type were summarized by descriptive statistics. Among studies with ≥20 AYAs enrolled, demographic and disease characteristics of AYAs versus non‐AYAs were compared with χ2 and Kruskal–Wallis tests. A qualitative review was also conducted of therapeutic trials included in analysis in PubMed through December 31, 2021, that reported AYA‐specific survival.ResultsAmong 188 trials enrolling 40,396 patients, AYAs represented 11% (4468 of 40,396) of accrual. AYA accrual varied by cancer type (leukemia, 23.6%; breast, 9.9%; lymphoma, 14.8%; colorectal, 6.2%; central nervous system, 8.1%; melanoma, 11.8%; sarcoma, 12%). Across ages, the proportion of Black and Hispanic patients enrolled was 1%–10%. Compared to non‐AYAs, AYAs in breast and colorectal cancer trials were less likely to be White and more likely to be Hispanic. Disease characteristics differed by age for selected trials. Two trials reported AYA‐specific survival, with no significant differences observed by age.ConclusionsAYA accrual to Alliance trials was comparable to or exceeded population‐based, age‐specific prevalence estimates for most cancer types. Greater proportional representation of Hispanic and non‐White patients among AYAs reflects US demographic trends. The small number of minority patients enrolled across ages underscores the persistent challenge of ensuring equitable access to trials, including for AYAs.
NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Survivorship, Version 1.2023

Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network | August 7, 2023 | Volume: 21 | Issue: 8 | Pages: 792-803

10.6004/jnccn.2023.0041 | PMID 37549906

The NCCN Guidelines for Survivorship are intended to help healthcare professionals address the complex and varied needs of cancer survivors. The NCCN Guidelines provide screening, evaluation, and treatment recommendations for psychosocial and physical problems resulting from adult-onset cancer and its treatment; recommendations to help promote healthy behaviors and immunizations in survivors; and a framework for care coordination. These NCCN Guidelines Insights summarize recent guideline updates and panel discussions pertaining to sleep disorders, fatigue, and cognitive function in cancer survivors.
Strategies to increase accrual of underrepresented populations in Alliance NCTN trials.

Journal of Clinical Oncology | June 4, 2023 | Volume: 41 | Issue: 16_suppl | Pages: 6509-6509

10.1200/jco.2023.41.16_suppl.6509

6509 Background: Accrual of underrepresented populations (URPs-racial and ethnic minorities, women, rural populations, and younger and older populations) to clinical trials has been historically low, hampering progress in cancer treatment, symptom intervention and prevention for all. In 2018, the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (Alliance), as a part of the NCI's National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) and a Research Base for the NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) began a multi-pronged strategy to increase accrual of underrepresented minorities by race and ethnicity (URMs) to both treatment and cancer control trials conducted by the Alliance. Methods: Alliance leadership set a goal of 20% accrual for racial and ethnic minorities to all trials in 2018. The Health Disparities Committee (HDC) implemented several strategies over time including leadership promotion/expectation of goals; funding junior investigators and special projects focusing on URPs; working groups for specific populations in HDC; HDC co-chairs to selected protocols; translation services of patient facing materials; opening studies at NCORP Minority Underserved Sites; real time monitoring of accrual demographics, by Alliance and by site; protocols addressing aims for specific populations; closing protocol enrollment to majority populations; and increasing the study sample size to enroll additional minority participants to allow for analyzing intervention effects by subgroups. Results: Accrual data from 117 NCTN and NCORP trials led by Alliance was included from 2014-2022. Over time, accrual of racial and ethnic minorities increased from 13.6% to 25.3% for treatment and 13% to 21.5% for cancer control trials. This results in overall increase from 13.5 % to 23.6% of URMs for all trials, a 74.8% improvement. Conclusions: Intentional approaches to increase URMs has led to an increase in URM accruals to Alliance trials. Future strategies include implementation of the Alliance Patient Questionnaire to prospectively measure the prevalence of specific social determinants of health among patients enrolled to further expand the understanding and address the needs of unique population accrued to Alliance trials. In addition, accrual of women, rural populations, and younger and older adults (65+ years) are now being monitored over time to increase all URP accruals.
Lessons learned from conducting the first cancer care delivery trial in the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (Alliance A191402CD)

Clinical Trials | April 13, 2023 | Volume: 20 | Issue: 5 | Pages: 559-563

10.1177/17407745231167123 | PMID 37050880

Introduction: Testing healthcare delivery interventions in rigorous clinical trials is a critical step in improving patient care, but conducting multisite randomized clinical trials to test the effect of care delivery interventions has unique challenges and requires foresight and planning. Methods: We conducted the first care delivery trial (A191402CD) in the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, a National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program research base, which tested the effectiveness of two different decision aids for supporting shared decision-making about prostate cancer treatment. Our experience illustrates the kind of challenges that confront care delivery researchers as they seek to test interventions to improve the experiences of patients. Results: Lessons learned include the following: cluster-randomized designs introduce complexity; workflow disruption can discourage site participation; evidence-based methods may not always be sufficient. Conclusion: We conclude with the following recommendations: assessing feasibility requires special rigor; relationships and interpersonal dynamics must be leveraged. Our experiences may inform future care delivery research.
Priorities to Promote Participant Engagement in the Participant Engagement and Cancer Genome Sequencing (PE-CGS) Network

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention | February 15, 2023 | Volume: 32 | Issue: 4 | Pages: 487-495

10.1158/1055-9965.epi-22-0356 | PMID 36791345

Abstract Background: Engaging diverse populations in cancer genomics research is of critical importance and is a fundamental goal of the NCI Participant Engagement and Cancer Genome Sequencing (PE-CGS) Network. Established as part of the Cancer Moonshot, PE-CGS is a consortium of stakeholders including clinicians, scientists, genetic counselors, and representatives of potential study participants and their communities. Participant engagement is an ongoing, bidirectional, and mutually beneficial interaction between study participants and researchers. PE-CGS sought to set priorities in participant engagement for conducting the network's research. Methods: PE-CGS deliberatively engaged its stakeholders in the following four-phase process to set the network's research priorities in participant engagement: (i) a brainstorming exercise to elicit potential priorities; (ii) a 2-day virtual meeting to discuss priorities; (iii) recommendations from the PE-CGS External Advisory Panel to refine priorities; and (iv) a virtual meeting to set priorities. Results: Nearly 150 PE-CGS stakeholders engaged in the process. Five priorities were set: (i) tailor education and communication materials for participants throughout the research process; (ii) identify measures of participant engagement; (iii) identify optimal participant engagement strategies; (iv) understand cancer disparities in the context of cancer genomics research; and (v) personalize the return of genomics findings to participants. Conclusions: PE-CGS is pursuing these priorities to meaningfully engage diverse and underrepresented patients with cancer and posttreatment cancer survivors as participants in cancer genomics research and, subsequently, generate new discoveries. Impact: Data from PE-CGS will be shared with the broader scientific community in a manner consistent with participant informed consent and community agreement.
NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Survivorship, Version 1.2022

Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network | October 14, 2022 | Volume: 20 | Issue: 10 | Pages: 1080-1090

10.6004/jnccn.2022.0052 | PMID 36240847

The NCCN Guidelines for Survivorship are intended to help healthcare professionals who work with survivors to ensure that the survivors’ complex and varied needs are addressed. The NCCN Guidelines provide screening, evaluation, and treatment recommendations for the consequences of adult-onset cancer and its treatment; recommendations to help promote physical activity, weight management, and immunizations in survivors; and a framework for care coordination. This article summarizes updates to the NCCN Guidelines pertaining to preventive health for cancer survivors, including recommendations about alcohol consumption and vaccinations.
Enrollment patterns and site-level predictors of Black participant recruitment to a multisite randomized clinical trial (RCT) of endocrine therapy adherence support.

Journal of Clinical Oncology | September 30, 2022 | Volume: 40 | Issue: 28_suppl | Pages: 68-68

10.1200/jco.2022.40.28_suppl.068

68 Background: Accrual of racial and ethnic minority patients (pts) to clinical trials has been an ongoing challenge in research. Barriers exist at many levels of engagement including trial availability, screening biases, strict enrollment criteria, and structural racism. Lack of trial diversity has led to less generalizable medical evidence, suboptimal data for toxicity and efficacy of cancer treatments, poorer outcomes and continued mistrust by communities of color in research processes that exclude or marginalize them. Site factors and study design strategies associated with successful recruitment of diverse study populations are understudied. Methods: Alliance A191901 is an RCT testing combinations of text and telephone support to promote endocrine therapy adherence among breast cancer survivors. It oversamples Black participants and those < 50 years at thresholds of 30% each. Administrative enrollment data was used to track and describe monthly accrual trajectory by race among the initial 50% of participants (n = 590) and to examine associations between % Black participants accrued and accruing site characteristics, including site type, geographic region, % Black population in the site’s zip code and volume of pts by race accrued to recent (2018-2019) Alliance trials, using χ2 tests. We also examined patterns of Black participant accrual before and after closure of the A191901 study to non-Black participants. Results: At 50% accrual, 124 sites had enrolled at least 1 participant. Among 590 participants, 9.7% were Black and 22.5% were < 50 years. Neither site type nor volume was associated with % Black participants recruited. Sites in the South recruited higher proportions of Blacks (19.0% vs 5.6% for Midwest, the lowest region, p < 0.001). Neighborhood racial composition was positively associated with accrual of Black participants (17.2% at sites from highest Black composition vs. 2.3% in lowest, p < 0.001). Recruitment trajectories of Black participants consistently lagged those of non-Black participants in the first half of the study; however, Black participants recruited per month numerically increased after the study reached target accrual of non-Blacks and closed to non-Black participants. Conclusions: Sites in neighborhoods and geographic regions with larger Black populations recruited higher proportions of Black participants, but site type and volume were not associated with recruitment of Black participants. Closure of non-Black study strata based on predetermined accrual targets may positively impact recruitment trajectories of Black participants, but further study is needed. Site selection based on neighborhood composition and geography may be an appropriate tool for increasing trial diversity. Support: UG1CA189823. Clinical trial information: NCT04379570.