OBJECTIVES: Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) is a rare, incurable, relapse disease, with an incidence of 0.27/100,000 in China. Chemotherapy and chemoimmunotherapy, although documented with severe adverse events and extremely negative impact on patients’ quality of life (QoL)， were still the most common treatment in CLL patients in present clinical practice. This study aims to evaluate the economic costs (including direct and indirect cost) of chemotherapy and chemoimmunotherapy in CLL patients (including untreated CLL patients and relapse/refractory CLL(rrCLL) patients) from societal perspective.

METHODS: Delph panels were conducted with hematologists and oncologists. Questionnaires were designed to collect relevant clinical and costs information to document the treatment burden.

RESULTS: CONCLUSIONS: Chemotherapy and chemoimmunotherapy, although clinically efficacious, not only causes adverse impact on CLL patients’ quality of life, but also imposing significant economic burden in CLL patients in China. This study highlights the importance that we should pay attention to their impact on patients’ quality of life and the total management costs, when evaluating chemotherapy and chemoimmunotherapy.