Octogenarians with acute myeloid leukemia have poor survival

(HealthDay)—Octogenarians with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have a one-month mortality rate of 41 percent and overall survival (OS) of 1.5 months, according to a research letter published in the June issue of the American Journal of Hematology.

Vijaya R. Bhatt, M.D., from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, and colleagues conducted an analysis to determine treatment practices and outcomes of an unselected cohort of octogenarian patients with AML. Records were identified for 112,308 patients with newly diagnosed AML, 15.2 percent of whom were octogenarians. The final study population included 12,099 patients.

The researchers found that 41 percent of the patients received chemotherapy within a median of seven days of diagnosis. Patients received a multiagent, single-agent, or unspecified chemotherapy regimen (25.3, 70.2, and 4.5 percent, respectively). Reasons for not receiving chemotherapy included the presence of contraindications, patient or family refusal, death prior to therapy, it was recommended but not administered for an unspecified reason, and other unspecified reasons (16.4, 14.3, 3.2, 0.7, and 65.4 percent, respectively). Only 0.07 percent of patients received hematopoietic cell transplant. One-month mortality was 41 percent and median OS 1.5 months. Median OS was better for patients who did versus those who did not receive chemotherapy (3.2 versus 0.9 months).

"The poor utilization of chemotherapy, high one-month mortality, and poor long-term OS of octogenarians with AML in this large database study demonstrate an unmet need of this patient population," the authors write.

Two authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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