The incidence and relative risk of major adverse cardiovascular events and hypertension in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors plus tyrosine-kinase inhibitors for solid tumors: a systemic review and meta-analysis

Combinations of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) can be responsible for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs). We performed a meta-analysis to assess the relative risk (RR) of MACEs and hypertension in cancer patients treated with ICI+TKI combinations. We selected prospective trials through MEDLINE/PubMed, Cochrane Library, and ASCOMeeting abstracts. We calculated combined ORs, RRs, and 95% CIs using RevMansoftware for meta-analysis (v.5.2.3). Seven studies were selected for the analysis of MACEs (3849 patients). The incidence MACEs were 0.8% with ICI+TKI combinations, compared to 0.2% in the control arms for both any- and high-grade. ICI+TKI combinations significantly increased the risk of any- (OR = 3.21; <i>p</i> = 0.01) and high-grade MACEs (OR = 2.72; <i>p</i> = 0.05). Ten studies were selected for the analysis of hypertension (5744 patients). The incidence of treatment-related hypertension of any-grade and high-grade was41.3% (vs. 20.8%) and 26.1% (vs. 12.3%) with ICI+TKI combinations, respectively. ICI+TKI combinations significantly increased the risk of treatment-related hypertension of any-grade (RR = 2.10; <i>p</i> = 0.001), but not of high-grade (<i>p</i> = 0.11). ICI+TKI combinations increase the risk of MACEs compared to controls, although the absolute incidence is eventually low. Routine cardiovascular monitoring in asymptomatic patients is therefore not recommended.