Immune-related adverse events — evidence summary

Two published systematic reviews of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) toxicity, made interactive — how often irAEs occur, and which factors change the risk.

Source: Jayathilaka B, Mian F, Franchini F, Au-Yeung G, IJzerman M. Cancer and treatment specific incidence rates of immune-related adverse events induced by immune checkpoint inhibitors: a systematic review. British Journal of Cancer 2025;132:51–57 (doi:10.1038/s41416-024-02887-1) — Supplementary Table S2, 293 studies published 2017–2021.

Every dot is one published study's reported event rate — patients with an irAE divided by patients treated with ICIs. The bar behind each row spans the interquartile range, the line marks the median. Colour shows what kind of evidence the estimate comes from.

Underlying studies (table view)
irAE typeStudyDesign CancerRegimen irAETreatedRate %

How to read this — and what it cannot tell you

  • These are crude proportions, not pooled estimates. Each dot is one study's own reported rate; the median and interquartile range describe the spread across studies, and are not a meta-analysis.
  • Denominators are not comparable. Studies differ in follow-up, in how actively irAE were sought, and in whether the denominator is everyone treated or a selected subgroup.
  • Grade definitions vary. "High grade" generally means CTCAE grade 3 or above, but not every study reports it the same way, and grade-specific subsets are shown separately.
  • The evidence base is overwhelmingly retrospective. That is itself a finding: filter to trials or registries and most rows thin out to a handful of studies.
  • Studies can appear more than once when they report several irAE types, and patient populations may overlap between studies from the same centre.