A substantial increase in the economic burden was reported as the number of adverse events (AEs) increased among Medicare patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL; Leuk Lymphoma. 2021;1-10. doi:10.1080/10428194.2021.1919662).
“Most data on overall survival (OS) and AEs in patients with MCL are from controlled trials,” wrote Ravi K. Goyal, PhD, Department of Health Economics, RTI Health Solutions, Research Triangle Park, NC, and colleagues.
This population-based study retrospectively assessed treatment patterns, OS, and AEs among patients with MCL who initiated systemic treatment from 2013 to 2015. Patients were identified using the Medicare claims database.
A total of 1390 patients were included in the analysis. Among these patients, the preferred first-line therapy was chemoimmunotherapy with bendamustine/rituximab (35.3%), followed by ibrutinib (33.5%), rituximab (9.1%), and rituximab/cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin/vincristine (R-CHOP) (6.8%).
The 24-month OS was 73% for bendamustine/rituximab, 47% for ibrutinib, 72% for rituximab, and 71% for R-CHOP.
The most frequent AEs among the four most commonly used regimens were neutropenia, anemia, hypertension, and infection. Patients who experienced ≥3 AEs had nearly four times higher monthly costs than those with 0–2 AEs in the first observed therapy line.
“Findings demonstrate a substantial increase in the economic burden as the number of AEs increased among the Medicare MCL patients,” concluded Dr Goyal and colleagues.—Janelle Bradley
