Eleven prognostic factors were retrospectively analyzed in 270 newly diagnosed patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer including age, sex, performance status, histology, stage, smoking status, hemoglobin level, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), weight loss >5% in 3 months preceding therapy, number of involved organs, and type of first-line chemotherapy. Response rate was 35.6%, and median survival was 8.2 months (95% CI, 7.8 to 8.7) for the whole group. Age ≤60 years ( ), ( ), and the use of platinum/docetaxel ( ) were significantly associated with an improved survival. Histology did not affect outcome in the absence of targeted therapies. 1. Introduction Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among both men and women in the world. Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) represents 75–85% of all lung cancer cases. Approximately, two-thirds of NSCLC patients have advanced stage at diagnosis beyond curative resection.[1] The median survival time for patients with untreated metastatic NSCLC is only 4–5 months, with a survival rate at one year of only 10% [2]. However, a meta-analysis has demonstrated that, as compared with best supportive care, chemotherapy results in a small improvement in survival in patients with advanced NSCLC [3]. Newer chemotherapy combinations showed a response rate of 19–32% and a median survival time of 7.9 to 11.3 months [4, 5]. These numbers are also improved significantly with the use of targeted therapies although results have been variable among patients. This difference in outcome among patients with the same clinical stage of the disease suggests that advanced NSCLC is a heterogeneous disease. Additionally, some patients experience weight loss and some have a significant number of comorbidities. This wide spectrum of clinical features of patients with stage IIIB/IV NSCLC probably contributes to disparities in outcomes seen in different clinical trials. Although prognostic variables have been described for advanced stage NSCLC [6], no reports have addressed this issue in our patient population. Therefore, this study aims to determine the patient and tumor variables that are associated with improved outcome in Jordanian patients who are undergoing first-line palliative chemotherapy for stage IIIB/IV NSCLC. Also, we looked at the outcome of chemotherapy in our patients with advanced NSCLC, who in general have limited access to new targeted therapies and molecular testing. 2. Patients and Methods We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of 321 patients with a pathological diagnosis of
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