Premium
Greater attention should be paid to developing therapies for elderly patients with Hodgkin lymphoma—A population‐based study from Sweden
Author(s) -
Björkholm Magnus,
Weibull Caroline E.,
Eloranta Sandra,
Smedby Karin E.,
Glimelius Ingrid,
Dickman Paul W.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
european journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1600-0609
pISSN - 0902-4441
DOI - 10.1111/ejh.13090
Subject(s) - medicine , confidence interval , hodgkin lymphoma , clinical trial , lymphoma , population , cancer , pediatrics , environmental health
Objective Forty percent of Hodgkin lymphoma ( HL ) patients are older than 50 years at diagnosis, a fact which is not commonly recognized. Older patients do significantly worse than younger patients and are rarely included in clinical trials. Methods Using data from Swedish Cancer and Lymphoma Registries, we estimated relative survival ratios ( RSR s) for 7997 HL patients (diagnosed 1973‐2013; 45% ≥50 years). Results The 1‐year RSR s (95% confidence interval; CI ) for males aged 45‐59, 60‐69, 70‐80, and 81 years and over, diagnosed in 2013, were 0.95 (0.91‐0.97), 0.88 (0.81‐0.92), 0.74 (0.63‐0.81), and 0.52 (0.35‐0.67), respectively. The corresponding 1‐year RSR s for females were 0.97 (0.94‐0.98), 0.91 (0.85‐0.95), 0.82 (0.73‐0.88), and 0.66 (0.50‐0.77). No improvements in 1‐year of 5‐year relative survival from 2000 to 2013 were observed for patients aged 45‐59 or 60‐69 but there were modest improvements for patients aged 70 years and older. Importantly, we saw no changes in the distribution of disease or patient characteristics between 2000 and 2013. Conclusions Elderly patients constitute a large group with clearly unmet medical needs. Our findings motivate a more active approach to including elderly patients in clinical trials. Our study provides a baseline for outcome comparison after the broader introduction of targeted drugs.