Increased healthcare use up to 10 years among relapse ‐free Hodgkin lymphoma survivors in the era of intensified chemotherapy and limited radiotherapy

This study aims to provide a global assessment of late adverse effects for working‐age HL survivors treated with contemporary protocols (combination chemotherapy and limited radiotherapy). From Swedish nationwide registers we identified 1017 HL survivors diagnosed in 2000‐2009, aged 18‐60 years (median 32) and surviving at least one year post‐diagnosis, and 4031 age‐, sex‐ and calendar‐year‐matched population comparators. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) for outpatient visits and inpatient bed‐days after the first year up to 14 years post‐diagnosis (through 2013) were estimated across treatment subgroups, considering relapse‐free time and using negative binomial regression. Scheduled outpatient visits for HL were excluded. The rate of outpatient visits was nearly double (IRR=1.8, 95%CI:1.6‐2.0) that among comparators and higher rates persisted up to 10 years post‐diagnosis. The rate of inpatient bed‐days among relapse‐free survivors was more than three‐fold (IRR=3.6, 95%CI:2.7‐4.7) that of comparators and the increase persisted up to four years post‐diagnosis. Patients requiring 6‐8 chemotherapy courses had higher rates of outpatient visits (IRR=1.4, 95%CI:1.1‐1.7) and bed‐days (IRR=4.7, 95%CI:2.9‐7.8) than patients treated with 2‐4 courses+radiotherapy. Previously seldom reported reasons for the excess healthcare use included chest pain, keratitis, asthma, diabetes mellitus and depression. Contempo...
Source: American Journal of Hematology - Category: Hematology Authors: Tags: Research Article Source Type: research