OBJECTIVES

: Cutaneous T-cell lymphomas are a rare group of non-Hodgkin lymphomas with heterogeneous characteristics. The most common subtype is mycosis fungoides (MF), which manifests primarily on the skin. However, a large body of evidence is missing on patients with mature T/NK-cell lymphoma in the context of care research, particularly on patients with MF and Sézary syndrome (SS). This study therefore serves to provide reliable and representative epidemiological data on CTCL in Germany.

METHODS

: The study was based on a retrospective analysis of a six-year (2012-2017) anonymized age- and sex-adjusted database from the German statutory health insurance (SHI) claims data system, providing a representative sample of ~4,8 million insurants, which accounts for approx. 5.5% of the total German population. Patients received at least one full or semi-residential inpatient diagnosis or two confirmed outpatient diagnoses in different quarters of the year (C84* ICD-10 GM). Based on a cross-sectional study design, epidemiological data were obtained from continuously insured patients diagnosed with mature T/NK cell lymphoma and subtypes (all stages of disease were included).

RESULTS

: 1,336 prevalent patients diagnosed with cutaneous T-cell and NK-cell lymphoma (C84* ICD-10-GM) were identified out of 3,065,485 continuously insured persons in the database (2012-2017), revealing a prevalence rate of 0.0436%. The number of patients with mature T/NK-cell lymphoma has increased by 14% from 2012 to 2017. The annual mortality of the study population was 7%. Two-thirds of the patients (65%) were male and the average age was 66 years (SD± 15.09). Subgroup analysis revealed that MF (C84.0 ICD-10 GM) showed the largest patient group, whereas SS (C84.1 ICD-10-GM) demonstrated the smallest subcohort.

CONCLUSIONS

: The study provides real-world evidence on the administrative prevalence of cutaneous lymphoma in Germany. Key findings regarding age and gender distribution as well as prevalence of MF and SS patients were aligning with other international studies.