Highlights
- •Na/Ca channel blockers are associated with improved GBM overall survival.
- •Na/Ca channel blockers are associated with improved GBM cancer specific survival.
Abstract
Background
Patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) who undergo radiation often require anticonvulsants
during treatment. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of anticonvulsants
on GBM clinical outcomes.
Methods
A retrospective analysis was performed using the SEER-Medicare database. All patients
with GBM who were treated with radiation and concurrently taking an anticonvulsant
were included in final analysis. Each class of medication was further subdivided by
mechanism of action. Descriptive statistics were performed for all variables. Kaplan
Meier survival curves were generated for each class of medication and Cox regression
analysis was performed to assess the effect of each individual variable on survival.
Results
There were 1561 patients available for final analysis. On multivariate Cox regression
analysis, GBM patients taking sodium/calcium (Na/Ca) channel blocker anticonvulsants
during radiation therapy demonstrated both improved overall survival (OS) (HR, 0.799;
95% CI [0.716, 0.891]; P < 0.001) and cancer specific survival (CSS) (HR, 0.814; 95% CI [0.727, 0.911]; P < 0.001).
Conclusion
OS was significantly better in patients taking NA/Ca channel blockers among patients
with GBM who were concurrently undergoing radiation therapy.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
September 28,
2022
Received:
March 22,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
