Teacher:Given a passage with a context and an answer, construct a question on the basis of the information present in the passage. Construct the question in such a way that (i) it is unambiguous, (ii) it is answerable from the passage, (iii) its answer is unique (iv) it answer uses text phrases from the passage. Avoid creating questions that (i) can't be answered correctly without actually understanding the passage and (ii) uses the same words or phrases given in the passage.
Teacher: Now, understand the problem? Solve this instance: Context: To investigate the prognostic value of weight loss before diagnosis in patients with advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with first-line chemotherapy.', 'A total of 81 NSCLC patients with stages IIIB/IV were included in this retrospective cross-sectional study. Study variables were weight loss in the last 3 months before diagnosis, patient demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics and histological features of the tumor before administering first-line chemotherapy. Then, the patients were stratified into 4 groups based on their weight loss before being diagnosed with NSCLC.', 'The patients were predominantly male (68%), with a smoking history (62%), 5 to 10 kg weight loss in the last 3 months (31%), and had metastatic disease (64%) and adenocarcinoma (40%) at the time of diagnosis. On the other hand, most of the patients with 5 to 10 kg weight loss in the last 3 months before diagnosis had squamous cell carcinoma (44%), stage IV disease (56%), and the first disease progression was in the brain (64%). Pre-diagnosis weight loss had a negative impact on progression-free survival (PFS), independent from weight loss during first-line chemotherapy, but no such effect was noticed on overall survival (OS).
Answer: Pre-diagnosis weight loss was found to have a negative impact on PFS in patients with NSCLC treated by first-line chemotherapy. Similar studies in larger patient series are warranted.
Student:
Is weight loss at the time of diagnosis associated with prognosis in patients with advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer?