OBJECTIVES

Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) are part of a group of hematological disorders with high risk of marrow failure and mortality. There is scarce real-world data about these cancer patients. We sought to evaluate differences in patterns of care between the AML and MDS populations at an NCI-designed center.

METHODS

A retrospective chart review was conducted on patients who were ­> 18 years old, diagnosed with AML or MDS and treated between 06/01/2016 and 03/31/2020. Patients were excluded if they had acute promyelocytic leukemia, unknown race, or inadequate treatment time. Information collected for analysis included laboratory data, type of treatment, and demographics. Age, gender, race, smoking status, eastern cooperative oncology group (ECOG) status, AML cytogenetics risk, malignancies, survival and reception of bone marrow transplants, palliative care consults or chemotherapy inductions were variables that were assessed. Chi squared tests and ANOVA were used to compare categorical and continuous variables, respectively.

RESULTS

Out of 129 patients, the mean age was 75 [SD 10.0], 66% were male, and 81% were white. Primary diagnosis was MDS in 58% and AML in 42% of the patients. Age, gender, race, smoking status, ECOG, malignancies and number of bone marrow transplants and palliative care consults were similar in both groups. Differences between AML and MDS patients were seen in cytogenetics risk category with an adverse risk (59% and 9.7%, respectively; p< 0.0001), in the number of chemotherapy inductions (67.3% and 43.1% had two cycles, respectively; p=0.008) and mean survival (459 days [SD 366] and 974 days [SD 1132], respectively; p=0.007).

CONCLUSIONS

Significant differences exist between characteristics of the AML and MDS patient populations. Further research is warranted to assess the impact of these differences on healthcare costs and resource utilization.