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Qol and Patients' Care

Does quality of life impact the decision to pursue stem cell transplantation for elderly patients with advanced MDS?

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 51, pages 1121–1126 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

The factors that influence utilization of reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) among medically fit older patients with advanced myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are largely unknown. The MDS Transplant-Associated Outcomes (MDS-TAO) study is an ongoing prospective observational study at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital that enrolls transplant-eligible fit patients aged 60–75 years with advanced MDS and follows them through RIC HCT vs non-HCT treatment. In this analysis of 127 patients enrolled from May 2011 to June 2014, we examined the influence of age, gender, cytogenetics, International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) category, performance status, distance from HCT center and baseline patient-reported quality of life (QOL) from the EORTC QLQ-C30 (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire) on the likelihood of receiving RIC HCT using competing risk regression modeling. With a median follow-up of 16 months, 44 patients (35%) had undergone RIC HCT. In multivariable analyses, age (hazard ratio (HR) 0.87 per year, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.81–0.92, P<0.001) and higher IPSS (intermediate-2/high; HR 2.29, 95% CI: 1.25–4.19, P=0.007) were significantly predictive of receipt of RIC HCT; neither global QOL score nor any QOL subscales scores were predictive. These data suggest that baseline patient-reported QOL has little influence on the decision to undergo RIC HCT for older patients with advanced MDS.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Palliative Care Research Center Career Development Award (to AEJ) and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Research Scholar Grant (to GAA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    A El-Jawahri & Y-B Chen

  2. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    A El-Jawahri, D P Steensma, R M Stone, Y-B Chen, C S Cutler, R J Soiffer & G A Abel

  3. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    H T Kim, D P Steensma, A M Cronin, R M Stone, C D Watts, C S Cutler, R J Soiffer & G A Abel

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  1. A El-Jawahri
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  2. H T Kim
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Correspondence to G A Abel.

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El-Jawahri, A., Kim, H., Steensma, D. et al. Does quality of life impact the decision to pursue stem cell transplantation for elderly patients with advanced MDS?. Bone Marrow Transplant 51, 1121–1126 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2016.40

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