Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) were approved to treat advanced melanoma (AM) because of meaningful clinical benefit. These early data reported that ICI therapy is generally well tolerated, and despite symptoms, patients reported a high global health-related quality of life (HRQOL).
Objective: Immune checkpoint inhibitors are widely used in the oncology community; the aim of this systematic review was to evaluate current data on ICI therapy and its impact on HRQOL of patients with AM.
Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed during this systematic review to identify and select studies from the PubMed, OVID, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases. Selected studies were downloaded into Covidence and analyzed for trends in how ICI therapy impacts HRQOL in patients with AM. Multiple tools were used to assess the quality of the studies.
Results: The 16 studies included 12 quantitative, 2 qualitative, and 2 mixed-methods studies. The quality of the studies was moderate (n = 7) or strong (n = 9). Symptoms that impacted HRQOL were fatigue, endocrine dysfunction, rash, diarrhea, cognitive impairment, emotional impact (anxiety and depression), and financial toxicity. Suicidal ideation and 1 attempt were reported in 2 studies, which had not been previously published.
Conclusion: Patient-reported symptoms due to ICI negatively impacted HRQOL. Anxiety and depression are prevalent. Current QOL instruments do not capture the entire patient experience.
Implications for practice: Patients need to be asked if their symptoms are impacting their HRQOL. Further prospective research is needed to develop or adjust current patient-reported outcome instruments to adequately capture the impact of ICIs on HRQOL.
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