1. RBC transfusion independence among lower risk MDS patients receiving hypomethylating agents: a population-level analysis.
- Author
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Zeidan, Amer M., Zhu, Weiwei, Stahl, Maximilian, Wang, Rong, Huntington, Scott F., Giri, Smith, Podoltsev, Nikolai A., Gore, Steven D., Ma, Xiaomei, and Davidoff, Amy J.
- Subjects
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ERYTHROCYTES , *MYELODYSPLASTIC syndromes , *DISEASE progression - Abstract
Most patients with lower risk myelodysplastic syndromes (LR-MDS) become red blood cell (RBC) transfusion dependent at some time during their disease course. Hypomethylating agents (HMAs) are frequently used in this setting; however, reported rates of in RBC transfusion independence (TI) achieved with HMA therapy vary significantly between studies. Here we study the real-life clinical effectiveness of HMA in inducing RBC TI in anemic LR-MDS patients using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database. We find that approximately 40% of LR-MDS patients who were receiving RBC transfusions and 33% who were dependent on RBC transfusions at HMA initiation ultimately achieved TI. The receipt of ≥3 transfusions in the 8-week period before HMA initiation was significantly associated with lower odds of achieving TI. Our study provides important population level estimates of clinical effectiveness of HMAs in LR-MDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
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