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Male gender is an adverse prognostic factor in B‐cell lymphoma patients treated with immunochemotherapy *
Author(s) -
Riihijärvi Sari,
Taskinen Minna,
Jerkeman Mats,
Leppä Sirpa
Publication year - 2011
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/j.1600-0609.2010.01541.x
Subject(s) - lymphoma , medicine , oncology , chemotherapy , follicular lymphoma , diffuse large b cell lymphoma , rituximab , adverse effect , non hodgkin's lymphoma
Male gender is an adverse prognostic factor in Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but no such association has yet been established in non‐Hodgkin lymphomas. Here, we have evaluated whether gender has prognostic impact on the survival of patients with B‐cell non‐Hodgkin lymphoma in the postrituximab era of lymphoma therapies. The study populations consisted of 217 diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and 110 follicular lymphoma (FL) patients treated with immunochemotherapy. Hundred and sixty chemotherapy‐treated DLBCL patients served as a control group. According to Kaplan–Meier analyses, female patients had a significantly better progression‐free survival than men both in DLBCL (4 yr PFS 75% vs. 60%; P = 0.013) and in FL (4 yr PFS 68% vs. 52%, P = 0.036) patients treated with immunochemotherapy. In chemotherapy‐treated DLBCL patients, no difference in survival between the genders was found. The results support the idea that women seem to respond better to rituximab.