Background: There is limited real-world information on use of tumor mutational burden (TMB) testing and characteristics of patients receiving it. Materials & methods: Patients ≥18 years old and diagnosed with advanced solid tumors between 1 January 2015 and 31 January 2019 with TMB testing (TMB cohort) and without it (non-TMB) were included in this retrospective, observational study. Results: The TMB cohort (n = 202) was younger than non-TMB (n = 212) (mean age: 62.1 vs 65.6 at diagnosis; p = 0.005). There were more Black patients in the TMB cohort (21.3 vs 11.8% in non-TMB; p = 0.004). Clinical characteristics were comparable between the two cohorts; however, systemic anticancer treatment was higher among TMB cohort (91.6 vs 77.8% in non-TMB). Conclusion: Notable differences were observed between patients receiving TMB test and those not receiving it.
Keywords: clinical outcomes; community oncology; real-world data; treatment patterns; tumor mutation burden.