Comparison of post-chemoradiotherapy pneumonitis between Asian and non-Asian patients with locally advanced NSCLC: systematic review and meta-analysis

Pneumonitis is a common complication of definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA NSCLC). It is unclear whether there is ethnic difference in the incidence of post-CRT pneumonitis. Researchers of China Medical University (Shenyang) conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 248 studies involving 28,267 patients. The meta-analysis found that after CRT for LA NSCLC, the incidence of pneumonitis was higher among Asian patients than among non-Asian patients, which might be due to poor tolerance of lung to radiation in Asian compared with non-Asian patients.