Study findings lead experts to suggest that the prevalence of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and follicular lymphoma (FL) will likely rise in the United States and Europe, according to research presented at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network 2021 Virtual Annual Conference.

“Treatment for DLCBL and FL has been rapidly evolving over recent years especially for patients treated in later line of therapy,” wrote Wenzhen Ge, PhD, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Tarrytown, New York, and colleagues, who sought to estimate the number of patients eligible for—and treated by—line of therapy.

Using cancer registries from the United States and Europe (ie, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and physician survey results from the CancerMPact (CMP) database, Dr Ge et al collected data on cases of all grades of DLBCL and FL.

“The most recent country-, age- and sex-specific incidence rates for DLBCL and FL were projected and multiplied by the respective projected country populations to estimate the annual number of incident cases with DLBCL and FL from 2020 through 2025," the investigators explained.

SEER and Eurocare-5 data were used to calculate 10-year limited duration prevalence, and the percentages of patients treated by line of therapy and who progressed from the prior line of therapy originated from averages of the 2 most recent annual CMP physician surveys conducted by non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) specialists.

Of note, all patients with newly diagnosed disease were considered eligible for first-line treatment. The proportions of patients eligible for second- and third-line treatment included those who progressed from the previous therapy line.

Findings showed that the total number of incident and prevalent DLBCL and FL cases are projected to increase between the years 2020 and 2025. These increases are associated with increases in the underlying patient populations in older age groups with higher incidence rates.

Notably, <60% of patients eligible for third-line treatment initiated therapy for both NHL subtypes consistently in the United States and Europe.

“Future incidence and prevalence for both DLBCL and FL are likely to rise in the United States and Europe,” Dr Ge and co-investigators concluded.

“Further research is warranted to understand the reasons behind the high proportion of treatment eligible patients who do not initiate treatment, especially in the third line plus setting,” they added.—Hina Porcelli

Ge W, Arnason JE, Quek RGW, et al. Epidemiology of Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) and Follicular Lymphoma (FL) Patients by Line of Therapy in the United States (US) and Europe (EU). Presented at: the NCCN 2021 Virtual Annual Conference; March 18-20,2021; Virtual. Abstract EPR21-034.