Trial-reported arthralgia of androgen deprivation therapy plus androgen receptor signaling inhibitors in prostate cancer: evidence from phase III randomized trials
摘要
Androgen receptor signaling inhibitors (ARSIs) are widely used in prostate cancer. However, their association with arthralgia remains incompletely explored. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the risk of all-grade and grade ≥ 3 arthralgia in patients with prostate cancer related to ARSIs. PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched to identify phase III randomized controlled trials comparing ARSI-based treatment with placebo or standard care without a second-generation ARSI. The primary outcomes were risk ratios (RRs) for all-grade and grade ≥ 3 arthralgia. Pooled estimates were calculated using a random-effects model with restricted maximum likelihood estimation and Hartung-Knapp adjustment. Subgroup analyses were performed according to individual ARSI agent and disease setting. A total of 13 phase III randomized controlled trials involving 11,751 patients were included. ARSI treatment was associated with a significantly increased risk of all-grade arthralgia compared with control treatment (RR 1.26, 95% CI 1.06–1.48), with moderate heterogeneity. In drug-specific subgroup analyses, increased all-grade arthralgia risk was observed with abiraterone (RR 1.21, 95% CI 1.12–1.31), enzalutamide (RR 1.31, 95% CI 1.00–1.72), and apalutamide (RR 2.42, 95% CI 1.70–3.45), whereas darolutamide was not associated with an increased risk (RR 1.00, 95% CI 0.81–1.22). For grade ≥ 3 arthralgia, ARSI treatment was not associated with a significant increase in risk (RR 1.13, 95% CI 0.68–1.90). In conclusion, ARSI therapy was associated with an increased risk of all-grade arthralgia but not grade ≥ 3 arthralgia. These findings may inform pre-treatment counseling and early monitoring of arthralgia during ARSI therapy, although the analysis of grade ≥ 3 arthralgia should be interpreted cautiously because severe events were rare.