Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the patients
|  | Everolimus (n = 520) | Sorafenib (n = 240) | Sunitinib (n = 228) | p-value* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Gender, n (%) | ||||
 Male | 392 (75.4) | 179 (74.6) | 169 (74.1) | 0.914 |
 Female | 128 (24.6) | 61 (25.4) | 59 (25.9) |  |
Age at diagnosis [years] | ||||
 Median (range) | 60 (33–81) | 57 (33–78) | 60 (33–80) | 0.009 |
Metastatic disease, n (%) | ||||
 Metachronous | 264 (55.8) | 105 (49.5) | 85 (42.7) | 0.007 |
 Synchronous | 209 (44.2) | 107 (50.5) | 114 (57.3) |  |
 Unknown | 47 | 28 | 29 |  |
Histology, n (%) | ||||
 Clear-cell carcinoma | 490 (94.2) | 227 (94.6) | 213 (93.4) | 0.938 |
 Papillary carcinoma | 25 (4.8) | 10 (4.2) | 13 (5.7) |  |
 Other | 5 (1.0) | 3 (1.3) | 2 (0.9) |  |
MSKCCa | 520 (100.0) | 240 (100.0) | 228 (100.0) | 0.058 |
 Good prognosis | 185 (35.6) | 89 (37.1) | 87 (38.2) |  |
 Intermediate prognosis | 316 (60.8) | 135 (56.3) | 122 (53.5) |  |
 Poor prognosis | 19 (3.7) | 16 (6.7) | 19 (8.3) |  |
Previous nephrectomy, n (%) | 444 (85.4) | 216 (90.0) | 189 (82.9) | 0.072 |
Previous cytokines, n (%) | 180 (34.6) | 158 (65.8) | 134 (58.8) | < 0.001 |
Age at onset of second-line therapy [years] | ||||
 Median (range) | 65 (37–83) | 62 (35–83) | 62 (34–82) | < 0.001 |
ECOG PS at onset of second-line therapy, n (%) | ||||
 0 | 109 (27.8) | 37 (21.5) | 36 (23.7) | 0.084 |
 1 | 265 (67.6) | 117 (68.0) | 105 (69.1) |  |
 2 | 17 (4.3) | 18 (10.5) | 11 (7.2) |  |
 3 | 1 (0.3) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 Unknown | 128 | 68 | 76 |  |
Reason for treatment discontinuation, n (%) | ||||
 Progression or death | 349 (78.3) | 177 (76.3) | 151 (72.9) | – |
 Adverse event | 33 (7.4) | 28 (12.1) | 32 (15.5) |  |
 Other | 64 (14.3) | 27 (11.6) | 24 (11.6) |  |
Treatment duration [months] | ||||
 Mean (25–75 percentile) | 6.1 (2.7–8.6) | 7.1 (2.1–8.0) | 7.1 (2.6–9.7) | – |
Third-line targeted therapy, n (%) | 79 (15.2) | 80 (33.3) | 61 (26.8) | – |
Fourth-line targeted therapy, n (%) | 2 (0.4) | 3 (1.3) | 4 (1.8) | – |