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Background: Blood or marrow transplantation (BMT) survivors carry a high burden of morbidity, yet health care utilization by this vulnerable population remains understudied. Patterns and predictors of various domains of health care utilization in long-term BMT survivors were evaluated., Methods: Study participants were drawn from the Bone Marrow Transplant Survivor Study (BMTSS). Patients transplanted between 1974 and 2014 at one of three transplant centers who had survived ≥2 years after BMT and were aged ≥18 years at the time of the study were included. A BMTSS survey served as the source of data for health care utilization, sociodemographics, and chronic health conditions. Domains of health care utilization in the 2 years preceding study participation included routine checkups, BMT-related visits, transplant/cancer center visits, emergency room (ER) visits, hospitalizations, and high health care utilization (≥7 physician visits during the 2 years before the study). Clinical characteristics and therapeutic exposures were abstracted from medical records., Results: In this cohort of 3342 BMT survivors (52% allogeneic), the prevalence of health care utilization declined over time since BMT for both allogeneic and autologous BMT survivors, such that among those who had survived ≥20 years, only 49%-53% had undergone routine checkups, 37%-38% reported BMT-related visits, and 28%-29% reported transplant/cancer center visits. The presence of severe/life-threatening conditions and chronic graft-vs-host disease increased the odds of health care utilization across all domains. Lower education, lack of insurance, and Hispanic ethnicity were associated with a lower prevalence of routine checkups and/or transplant/cancer center visits. Lower income increased the odds of ER visits but reduced the odds of hospitalizations or high health care utilization., Conclusions: This study identified vulnerable populations of long-term BMT survivors who would benefit from specialized risk-based anticipatory care to reduce high health care utilization, ER visits, and hospitalizations., (© 2023 American Cancer Society.)

Background: A comprehensive assessment of morbidity after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) performed in childhood remains understudied., Methods: Seven hundred eighty-nine allogeneic BMT recipients who had survived ≥2 years after BMT performed between 1974 and 2014 at age <22 years and 690 siblings completed a 255-item survey self-reporting sociodemographics and chronic health conditions. A severity score (grade 3 [severe], 4 [life-threatening], or 5 [fatal]) was assigned to the conditions using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 5.0. For the BMT cohort, the cumulative incidence of chronic health conditions was calculated as a function of time from BMT. Proportional subdistribution hazards models were used to determine predictors of grade 3-5 conditions. Logistic regression was used to estimate the risk of grade 3-4 conditions in BMT recipients who were alive at the time of this study compared with siblings., Results: The median age at transplantation was 11.3 years (range, 0.4-22.0 years), and the median length of follow-up was 11.7 years (range, 2.0-45.3 years). The most prevalent primary diagnoses were acute lymphoblastic leukemia (30.7%), and acute myeloid leukemia/myelodysplastic syndrome (26.9%). At age 35 years, the cumulative incidence of a grade 3-4 condition was 53.8% (95% CI, 46.7%-60.3%). The adjusted odds ratio of a grade 3-4 condition was 15.1 in survivors (95% CI, 9.5-24.0) compared with siblings. The risk of a grade 3-5 condition increased with age at BMT (hazard ratio [HR], 1.03; 95% CI, 1.01-1.05) and was higher among females (HR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.02-1.59), patients who received total body irradiation (HR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.27-2.31), and those reporting chronic graft-versus-host disease (HR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.09-1.74)., Conclusions: Two-year survivors of allogeneic BMT in childhood have an increased risk of grade 3-4 chronic health conditions compared with siblings, suggesting the need for long-term follow-up., (© 2022 American Cancer Society.)

Background: Blood or marrow transplantation (BMT) is increasingly offered to older individuals with hematologic malignancies. The high prevalence of chronic health conditions in such individuals necessitates use of multiple medications. Beers Criteria represent a list of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) shown to increase the risk of health problems in the elderly. We sought to determine the prevalence and predictors of PIM use in older BMT survivors and identify associations with health problems., Methods: Study participants were drawn from the BMT Survivor Study, a cohort study of patients transplanted at three US transplant centers between 1974 and 2014 and surviving ≥2 years. For this report, the survivors were aged ≥65 years. Siblings served as a comparison group. Participants self-reported sociodemographics, chronic health conditions, and medication use. Logistic regression analyses identified predictors of PIM use and associations with health problems., Results: Overall, PIM use was comparable between BMT survivors (49.4%) and siblings (49.3%) (odds ratio [OR] = 0.9; 95% CI, 0.7-1.2); however, BMT survivors were more likely to use >1 PIM (17.4% vs. 12.4%; OR = 1.5; 95% CI, 1.01-2.4) and central nervous system-related PIMs (8.3% vs. 4.3%; OR = 2.18; 95% CI, 1.17-4.09). Predictors of PIM use included presence of severe/life-threatening chronic health conditions (OR = 1.5; 95% CI, 1.1-2.0), and chronic graft versus host disease (OR = 1.7; 95% CI, 1.1-2.7). Survivors taking >1 PIM reported more issues with vertigo (OR = 2.3; 95% CI, 1.1-4.7), balance (OR = 2.6; 95% CI, 1.7-4.1), faintness/dizziness (OR = 2.8; 95% CI, 1.8-4.6), and personal care (OR = 4.5; 95% CI, 1.4-14.8)., Conclusions: This study shows the health problems associated with PIM use and identifies vulnerable populations at higher risk for PIM use, providing evidence for caution in using PIMs in high-risk populations., (© 2022 American Cancer Society.)

Background: Obesity at diagnosis of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is associated with greater risk of relapse; whether this association extends to obesity during maintenance is unstudied., Methods: This study used data from AALL03N1 to calculate median body mass index (BMI) for 676 children over 6 consecutive months during maintenance therapy; BMI percentile (BMI%ile) were operationalized as normal/underweight (<85%ile), overweight/obese (85%-98%ile), and extreme obesity (≥99%ile). Hazard of relapse was estimated using multivariable proportional subdistributional hazards regression after adjusting for all relevant demographic and clinical predictors., Results: Median age at study enrollment was 6 years and median length of follow-up was 7.9 years. Overall, 43.3% of the cohort was underweight/normal weight, 44.8% was overweight/obese, and 11.8% had extreme obesity. Cumulative incidence of relapse at 4 years from study enrollment was higher among those with extreme obesity (13.6% ± 4.5%) compared to those with underweight/normal weight (9.0% ± 2.1%). Multivariable analysis revealed that children with extreme obesity had a 2.4-fold (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-5.0; p = .01) greater hazard of relapse compared to those who were underweight/normal weight. Overweight/obese patients were at comparable risk to those who were underweight/normal weight (hazard ratio, 0.8; 95% CI, 0.4-1.6). Erythrocyte thioguanine nucleotide (TGN) levels were significantly lower among children with extreme obesity compared to those with underweight/normal weight (141.6 vs. 168.8 pmol/8 × 10 8 erythrocytes; p = .0002), however, the difference in TGN levels did not explain the greater hazard of relapse among those with extreme obesity., Conclusions: Extreme obesity during maintenance therapy is associated with greater hazard of relapse in children with ALL. Underlying mechanisms of this association needs further investigation., Lay Summary: Findings from this study demonstrate that extreme obesity during maintenance therapy is associated with a greater hazard of relapse among children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. We show that children with obesity have lower levels of erythrocyte thioguanine nucleotides even after adjusting for adherence to oral chemotherapy. However, these lower levels do not explain the greater hazard of relapse, paving the way for future studies to explore this association., (© 2022 American Cancer Society.)

Background: Blood or bone marrow transplantation (BMT) survivors with frailty are at a higher risk of subsequent mortality. Longitudinal trends in the frailty state are not known and could help identify vulnerable subpopulations at risk of subsequent adverse events., Methods: This study included a cohort of 470 autologous and allogeneic BMT recipients who had survived ≥2 years after BMT and completed a baseline questionnaire (t1) at a median of 7.3 years after BMT and a follow-up questionnaire (t2) 13.2 years after t1. The main outcome was change in frailty state between t1 and t2. Frailty phenotype was defined as exhibiting ≥3 of the following characteristics: clinically underweight, exhaustion, low energy expenditure, slow walking speed, and muscle weakness. The following categories of change in frailty state were evaluated: worsened, improved, and stable., Results: Of the 470 participants, 36.4% were aged ≥60 years at t1, and 50.6% were men. The prevalence of frailty increased from 4.8% at t1 to 9.6% at t2. Worsening was observed in 18.8% of patients, and improvement was reported in 9.7%. Pre-BMT exposure to vincristine (odds ratio [OR], 2.1; 95% CI, 1.3-3.39) was associated with worsening. Female sex (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 0.93-2.4) was associated with a trend toward worsening. Pre-BMT exposure to vincristine (OR, 2.79; 95% CI, 1.44-5.43), a history of chronic graft-versus-host disease (OR, 2.58; 95% CI, 1.2-5.5), and grade 3 and 4 chronic health conditions at t1 (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.08-4.33) were associated with frailty at t2., Conclusions: In a cohort of BMT survivors who were followed longitudinally for a median of 20.6 years from BMT, the frailty status worsened for approximately20% over a 13-year timespan. BMT survivors who are at risk for worsening frailty could benefit from targeted interventions., (© 2020 American Cancer Society.)

Background: Anthracycline-related heart failure is a leading cause of morbidity in survivors of adult-onset lymphoma. There is a paucity of information on screening for late-occurring preclinical disease, which, in turn, has limited guidelines for early detection and intervention. The objectives of this study were to examine the prevalence and risk of cardiac dysfunction, as measured by echocardiography (abnormal left ventricular systolic/diastolic function or strain), in lymphoma survivors who received treatment with anthracyclines and to evaluate the diagnostic yield of blood biomarkers in the asymptomatic setting., Methods: Lymphoma survivors who underwent hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) (n = 78) or received conventional therapy (non-HCT; n = 77) were compared with each other and with a group of matched controls (n = 51); the study was limited to lymphoma survivors who were >5 years from diagnosis., Results: At a median follow-up of 9.4 years after diagnosis, 1 in 5 (20.6 %) lymphoma survivors had cardiac dysfunction; the odds of having cardiac dysfunction were 6.6-fold greater (odds ratio [OR], 6.6; P = .01) among lymphoma survivors compared with matched controls. There was a dose-dependent risk of cardiac dysfunction according to the cumulative anthracycline dose (controls [referent group], 1-249 mg/m 2 [OR, 4.7; P = .05], and ≥250 mg/m 2 [OR, 7.6; P < .01]), but there was no difference in the prevalence of cardiac dysfunction between conventionally treated and HCT survivors. The diagnostic accuracy of cardiac blood biomarkers in the asymptomatic setting was quite poor., Conclusions: In these long-term survivors, there was a high rate of cardiac dysfunction that was independent of HCT status. The growing number of lymphoma survivors makes it imperative to identify reliable and cost-effective strategies to decrease the burden of heart failure in this population. Cancer 2018;124:850-7. © 2017 American Cancer Society., (© 2017 American Cancer Society.)