For adults who receive hypomethylating agents (HMAs) for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), oral receipt of these agents carries approximately half the time burden as intravenous (IV) or subcutaneous (SC) administration. This is according to a retrospective claims database analysis presented at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.
The analysis had two propensity-score-matched cohorts with 158 patients each based on route of HMA receipt: oral and IV or SC. For each cohort, it determined the average amount of time that patients spent within particular health care settings over the course of their receiving HMA therapy, measured in “direct health care encounter days.”
Combining all the time spent receiving care, patients in the oral HMA cohort experienced a mean of 15.2 total direct health care encounter days, compared with 32.8 days for patients who received IV or SC HMAs.
For patients who received oral HMAs, the largest portion of their time was spent in the outpatient setting (34.9% of encounter days). Meanwhile, most of the time for patients who received IV or SC HMA was spent undergoing parenteral administration (55.5% of encounter days), followed by receiving inpatient care (16.2%), and making outpatient visits (14.9%).
The investigators noted that this is the first ever such report on the time burden experienced by patients with MDS who are treated with HMA therapy. Moreover, “[f]urther research is warranted to validate these results in a larger patient cohort and compare these findings with other cancer therapies.”
Funding for this analysis was provided by Taiho Oncology, Inc.
Reference
Epstein RS, Zeidan AM, Olopoenia A, et al. Time toxicity for patients receiving oral versus parenteral hypomethylating agents for myelodysplastic syndromes/neoplasms (MDS). Abstract #6568. Presented at the 2024 ASCO® Annual Meeting; May 31-June 4, 2024; Chicago, Illinois.