Objective: To describe chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) treatment patterns and patient outcomes in Latin America.
Methods: This chart review study (NCT02559583; 2008-2015)evaluated time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) outcomes among patients with CLL who initiate done (n = 261) to two (n = 96) lines of therapy (LOT) since diagnosis. Differences in TTP and OS were assessed by Kaplan-Meier analysis, with a log-rank test for statistical significance. Association between therapeutic regimen and risk for disease progression or death was estimated using Cox proportional hazard regression.
Results: The most commonly prescribed therapies in both LOTs were chlorambucil-, followed by fludarabine- and cyclophosphamide (C)/CHOP-based therapies. Chlorambucil- and C/CHOP-based therapies were largely prescribed to elderly patients (≥65 years) while fludarabine-based therapy was predominantly used by younger patients (≤65 years). In LOT1, relative to chlorambucil-administered patients, those prescribed fludarabine-based therapies had lower risk of disease progression (hazard ratio [HR] and 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.32 [0.19-0.54]), whereas C/CHOP-prescribed patients had higher risk (HR 95%CI 1.88 [1.17-3.04]). Similar results were observed in LOT2. There was no difference in OS between treatments in both LOTs.
Discussion: Novel therapies such as kinase inhibitors were rarely prescribed in LOT1 or LOT2in Latin America. The greater TTP observed forfludarabine-based therapies could be attributed to the fact that fludarabine-based therapies are predominantly administered to young and healthy patients.
Conclusion: Chlorambucil-based therapy, which has limited benefits, is frequently prescribed in Latin America. Prescribing novel agents for fludarabine-based therapy-ineligible patients with CLL is the need of the hour. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02559583.
Keywords: Latin America; chlorambucil; chronic lymphocytic leukemia; fludarabine; overall survival; progression-free survival; real-world evidence; treatment pattern.