Abstract Social determinants of health, including poverty, contribute significantly to health outcomes in the United States; however, their impact on pediatric hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) outcomes is poorly understood. We aimed to identify the association between neighborhood poverty and HCT outcomes for pediatric allogeneic HCT recipients in the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research database. We assembled 2 pediatric cohorts undergoing first allogeneic HCT from 2006 to 2015 at age ≤18 years, including 2053 children with malignant disease and 1696 children with nonmalignant disease. Neighborhood poverty exposure was defined a priori per the US Census definition as living in a high-poverty ZIP code (≥20% of persons below 100% federal poverty level) and used as the primary predictor in all analyses. Our primary outcome was overall survival (OS), defined as the time from HCT until death resulting from any cause. Secondary outcomes included relapse and transplantation-related mortality (TRM) in malignant disease, acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease, and infection in the first 100 days post-HCT. Among children undergoing transplantation for nonmalignant disease, neighborhood poverty was not associated with any HCT outcome. Among children undergoing transplantation for malignant disease, neighborhood poverty conferred an increased risk of TRM but was not associated with inferior OS or any other transplantation outcome. Among children with malignant disease, a key secondary finding was that children with Medicaid insurance experienced inferior OS and increased TRM compared with those with private insurance. These data suggest opportunities for future investigation of the effects of household-level poverty exposure on HCT outcomes in pediatric malignant disease to inform care delivery interventions.
Community health status and outcomes after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation in the United States
BackgroundThe association of community factors and outcomes after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) has not been comprehensively described. Using the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps (CHRR) and the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR), this study evaluated the impact of community health status on allogeneic HCT outcomes.MethodsThis study included 18,544 adult allogeneic HCT recipients reported to the CIBMTR by 170 US centers in 2014‐2016. Sociodemographic, environmental, and community indicators were derived from the CHRR, an aggregate community risk score was created, and scores were assigned to each patient (patient community risk score [PCS]) and transplant center (center community risk score [CCS]). Higher scores indicated less healthy communities. The impact of PCS and CCS on patient outcomes after allogeneic HCT was studied.ResultsThe median age was 55 years (range, 18‐83 years). The median PCS was –0.21 (range, –1.37 to 2.10; standard deviation [SD], 0.42), and the median CCS was –0.13 (range, –1.04 to 0.96; SD, 0.40). In multivariable analyses, a higher PCS was associated with inferior survival (hazard ratio [HR] per 1 SD increase, 1.04; 99% CI, 1.00‐1.08; P = .0089). Among hematologic malignancies, a tendency toward inferior survival was observed with a higher PCS (HR, 1.04; 99% CI, 1.00‐1.08; P = .0102); a higher PCS was associated with higher nonrelapse mortality (NRM; HR, 1.08; 99% CI, 1.02‐1.15; P = .0004). CCS was not significantly associated with survival, relapse, or NRM.ConclusionsPatients residing in counties with a worse community health status have inferior survival as a result of an increased risk of NRM after allogeneic HCT. There was no association between the community health status of the transplant center location and allogeneic HCT outcomes.
The Impact of Marital Status on Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HCT) Recipient Outcomes: A Surrogate for Consistent Caregiver. a CIBMTR Registry Study
Abstract Background Current literature suggests that the presence and quality of social support may provide meaningful benefits in overall survival of HCT recipients. Further, studies in general oncology and renal transplantation population suggest that married patients have favorable outcomes. Caregivers of HCT recipients are an important source of both instrumental and emotional support, and a reasonable surrogate for presence of social support. Using data from Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR), we examined the potential influence of marital status (surrogate for caregiver) at the time of HCT on outcomes of HCT. Methods Patients, >40 years of age who underwent either autologous or allogeneic-HCT from 2008 to 2015 were included. Marital status was defined as either 1) Married, 2) Single, never married, 3) Separated/divorced, and 4) Widowed. The probability of OS at 5 years, Grade 2-4 acute GVHD at 100 days and chronic GVHD at 2 years were estimated as appropriate using the Kaplan-Meier method with the log-rank test used for univariate comparisons. Multivariate analysis was performed to determine the association of marital status with these outcomes, while adjusting for clinical and sociodemographic variables. Results We identified 10,226 allogeneic and 5,714 autologous HCT patients; the median follow-up of survivors was 37 months (range 1-102 months) and 40 months (range 1-106 months) respectively. In the allogeneic population, there were n=7,999 married, n=741 single, n=1,175 separated/divorced and n=311 widowed patients. There were n=4,308, n=478, n=695 and n=233 respectively in the autologous population. The baseline characteristics amongst the 4 groups of marital status were comparable. In the allogeneic population, the 5-year probability of OS, 100-day Grade 2-4 acute GVHD, 2-year probability of chronic GVHD were 38% [95%CI (36-39%)], 16% [95%CI (15-17%)]and 46% [95%CI (45-47%)] respectively; while the 5-year probability of OS in the autologous population was 63% [95%CI (61-64%)]. When compared with married patients, single, separated/divorced and widowed patients were not at an increased risk of death [HR 1.09, 95%CI (0.98-1.2); HR 1.01, 95%CI (0.93-1.09); HR 1.09, 95%CI (0.98-1.2)] in the allogeneic setting. Similarly, there was no association of marital status and OS in the autologous setting [HR 1.10, 95%CI (0.92-1.33); HR 1.17, 95%CI (1.01-1.36); HR 1.08, 95%CI (0.86-1.37)] respectively. In contrast, marital status in the allogeneic setting was associated with an increased risk of grade 2-4 acute GVHD in patients who are divorced/separated as compared to married patients [HR 1.13, 95%CI (1.03-1.24)] but not chronic GVHD [HR 0.90, 95%CI (0.80-1.02); HR 0.94, 95%CI (0.86-1.04); HR 0.82, 95%CI (0.68-0.99)] respectively. We did not identify an interaction between marital status and gender. Conclusions Our data suggest the marital status in patients undergoing either autologous or allogeneic HCT is not associated with overall survival or chronic GVHD, while the risk of acute GVHD maybe increased in patients who are divorced/separated. Taken together, the effect of marital status on post-HCT outcomes is negligible when other patient, disease and transplant variables are considered. Alternatively, marital status maybe an imperfect marker for positive social support. Future research should consider measuring social support using validated scales and assess health related quality of life together with health care utilization outcomes to better appreciate the potential impact of social support. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Do Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Patients Treated on a Clinical Trial Do Better? Comparison of Characteristics and Outcomes of Patients Enrolled Versus Not Enrolled on Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT-CTN) 0201 Trial
Abstract Background: The association of clinical trial participation with outcomes in cancer patients is controversial, with some studies reporting better outcomes for trial participants while others do not. It is possible that the difference in outcomes is due to differences in baseline characteristics of participants and non-participants. The Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) 0201 trial was a large randomized, multi-center study comparing peripheral blood (PB) with bone marrow (BM) for hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) from HLA-matched or 1 allele mismatched unrelated donors (URD) in patients with acute leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes. The trial reported no significant survival differences between PB and BM; there was decreased risk of graft failure but increased risk of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) with PB grafts (Anasetti et al NEJM 2012). Methods: We compared characteristics of BMT CTN 0201 study participants (n=494) with HCT recipients who did not participate on the trial (n=1384) but were potentially eligible by virtue of known characteristics. These patients received similar conditioning and GVHD prophylaxis as trial participants at 38 United States trial centers during the study time-period. Centers that had no eligible non-trial participants were excluded. Outcomes between patients on and off trial were compared using Cox proportional hazards regression models. Data were obtained from the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) that collects patient data on all trial and non-trial allogeneic HCT recipients through its registry function. Results: Approximately 29% [494/1878] of apparently eligible patients were randomized and analyzed as part of the trial. There were no significant differences between study participants and non-participants in age or sex distribution, disease types, HLA or sex matching, comorbidities, or interval from diagnosis to HCT. Higher proportions of non-participants were Hispanic, had a lower performance status and lower disease risk, and received myeloablative conditioning and antithymocyte globulin (ATG) or Campath than the study participants. PB was used more commonly as the graft source in the non-participants as compared to the study participants (65% vs. 50%, p<0.001). In multivariate models, overall mortality (HR 1.09, 95% CI 0.95-1.25, p=0.22), transplant-related mortality (HR 1.08, 95% CI 0.89-1.32, p=0.42) and risks of acute grade II-IV (HR 0.96, 95% CI 0.82-1.12, p=0.57) and chronic GVHD (HR 1.06, 95% CI 0.92-1.23, p=0.41) were comparable between study non-participants and participants. Non-participants were at higher risk for relapse than participants (HR 1.24, 95%CI 1.04-1.49, p=0.02) in the multivariate analysis adjusted for disease risk and other clinical variables. Center effect was examined and was not found to be significant (p=0.10). There was no significant interaction between graft source and trial participation (P=0.22) and the risk of mortality was comparable for BM (HR 0.99, 95% CI 0.80-1.22, p=0.90) and PB recipients (HR 1.17, 95% CI 0.97-1.41, p=0.09) whether on trial or off trial. (Figure) Conclusion: Approximately 29% of patients who appeared eligible and were treated with conditioning and GVHD prophylaxis regimens allowed on the trial were enrolled. Despite some differences in clinical characteristics, most of the outcomes of non-trial participants were comparable to trial participants, suggesting that there is no definitive evidence that the outcomes of patients in a clinical trial are superior to those of the non-participants treated in a similar fashion. The comparable outcomes also indicate that the results of this trial were not seriously affected by selection bias and are therefore representative of the larger population. Figure 1: Adjusted overall survival in BMT CTN 0201 trial participants and non-participants Figure 1:. Adjusted overall survival in BMT CTN 0201 trial participants and non-participants Figure 2 Figure 2. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Impact of pre‐transplant depression on outcomes of allogeneic and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation