Effect of low-dose bevacizumab on health-related quality of life in patients with recurrent high-grade glioma: A retrospective clinical study.

Background: We retrospectively analyzed the effects of low-dose bevacizumab (BEV) combined with temozolomide (TMZ) on health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with recurrent high-grade glioma (rHGG).

Methods: A total of 129 patients with rHGG were included in this study. Patients were divided into a combination group and TMZ group based on the treatment they received. The Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (QLQ-C30) and EORTC Brain Cancer Module (QLQ-BN20) were used to evaluate HRQL in all patients before and after treatment. Categorical variables were compared using the chi-squared test. The data for all continuous variables were first tested for a normal distribution. If the data conformed to a normal distribution, a T test was used for comparison. If the data did not conform to a normal distribution, the rank-sum test was used.

Results: There were differences in PFS and PFS-6 between the BEV + TMZ and TMZ groups (P＜0.05). However, there was no difference in the OS between the two groups (P＞0.05). The BEV + TMZ group performed better than the TMZ group in both the QLQ-C30 and QLQ-BN20. In addition, the KPS score was higher in the BEV + TMZ group than in the TMZ group. Steroid doses given were lower in the BEV + TMZ group than in the TMZ group (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: Low-dose BEV + TMZ can relieve the clinical symptoms of rHGG patients, reduce their steroid dose, improve HRQL, and prolong PFS, but does not bear any benefit on OS.