Racial Disparities in Use of HCT for Multiple Myeloma

A study did not observe racial disparities in the use of autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) consolidative therapy for multiple myeloma (MM) for Black patients.

“Most guidelines recommend induction therapy followed by autologous HCT,” the study authors wrote. “A Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results–Medicare database analysis from 2000 to 2011 noted a lower use of HCT and bortezomib among Black patients, despite adjusting for care barriers, and this practice was associated with a poorer outcome.”

The researchers evaluated the correlation between overall survival and age of the diagnosis, race, socioeconomic status, disease cytogenetic, and initial induction regimens. Patients were excluded if they had undergone autologous stem cell transplant for relapsed MM.

Final analysis included 194 patients. Income category did not largely correlate with overall survival, time to transplant, or transplant-/relapse-related mortality, but a correlation was observed between high-risk cytogenetic and shorter overall survival as well as higher transplant-related mortality and relapse-related mortality. Patients who underwent more aggressive induction choices had poorer transplant outcomes. Black patients, compared to those of other ethnic groups, often had a shorter time to transplant.

Their study was published in Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma & Leukemia.