KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to investigate the real-world treatment patterns, healthcare resource utilization, and economic burden of patients with CLL or SLL in the US.
- Researchers noticed a significant shift in targeted therapies in CLL treatment and the significant economic burden on patients with CLL/SLL.
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common type of leukemia among US adults and has experienced a rapidly evolving treatment landscape. Yet, current data on treatment patterns in clinical practice and economic burden are limited.
Xiaoqin Yang and the team aimed to provide an up-to-date description of real-world characteristics, treatments, and costs of patients with CLL or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL).
They performed an inclusive analysis utilizing retrospective data from the Optum Clinformatics DataMart database (January 2013 to December 2021). Adults with diagnosis codes for CLL/SLL on two different dates were selected, and an adapted algorithm identified lines of therapy (LOT). Treatment patterns were stratified by the index year pre- and post-2018. Healthcare resource utilization and costs were evaluated per patient-years.
About 18,418 patients with CLL/SLL were identified. Of these, 5,226 patients (28%) received treatment with at least 1 line of therapy (LOT), while 1,728 patients (9%) received treatment with at least two LOT. Among patients diagnosed with CLL between 2014 and 2017 and receiving at least one LOT (N = 2,585), 42% utilized targeted therapy, and 30% utilized chemoimmunotherapy in the first line (1L).
In contrast, among patients diagnosed with CLL between 2018 and 2021 (N = 2,641), these proportions rose to 54% and 16%, respectively. Total costs were approximately 3.5 times higher and 4.9 times higher compared to baseline costs among patients treated with 1L+ and 3L+, respectively.
The study concluded that there has been a notable real-world change in the CLL treatment landscape, with targeted therapies being increasingly utilized as first-line treatments, comprising more than half of first-line regimens in recent years (2018-2021). Additionally, the study highlighted the substantial economic burden faced by patients with CLL/SLL.
This study was funded by Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38280190/
Yang X, Zanardo E, Lejeune D, et al. (2024). “Treatment Patterns, Healthcare Resource Utilization, and Costs of Patients With Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia or Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma in the US.” Oncologist. 2024 Mar 4;29(3):e360-e371. doi: 10.1093/oncolo/oyad324. PMID: 38280190; PMCID: PMC10911928.
