Treating follicular lymphoma boosts survival in older adults

Among elderly patients, treating follicular lymphomas (FLs) results in better survival outcomes, a recent study has shown.

Researchers retrospectively assessed 3,705 elderly adults (aged ≥80 years; 60 percent female) diagnosed with FL between 2000 and 2013. Those treated according to existing guidelines were compared against those who received no treatment following propensity-score matching. Outcomes included overall survival time and 3-year restricted mean survival time (RMST).

Majority (68 percent; n=2,519) of the patients had received FL-directed therapy, initiated within a median of 61 days. Rituximab was the most common first-line agent. Seventy percent of the untreated participants died over a median follow-up of 2.2 years.

In the propensity score-matched cohorts, Kaplan-Meier curves revealed an overall median survival of 4.31 years in participants who received treatment. This was significantly greater than in the untreated group (median, 2.86 years; log-rank p<0.001).

Survival probabilities showed a similar trend. At each year following FL diagnosis, patients who received treatment showed better odds of survival than their untreated counterparts. The respective 3-year survival probabilities, for instance, were 0.61 and 0.48. The 5-year probabilities were 0.43 and 0.34, respectively.

Moreover, the 3-year RMST was 2.36 years for patients who had received treatment and only 2.05 years in those who had not.

Cox proportional-hazards models confirmed these findings: Treatment significantly reduced the likelihood of death by 23 percent (hazard ratio, 0.77, 95 percent confidence interval, 0.70–0.85).