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Characteristics and survival trends in Finnish multiple myeloma patients—a nationwide real-world evidence study

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Abstract

Current understanding of the epidemiology and outcomes for patients with multiple myeloma in Finland is scarce due to lack of comprehensive real-world evidence in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to gain understanding of epidemiological characteristics and treatment and survival outcomes by utilizing multiple real-world data sources with information of adults treated for active multiple myeloma (MM) during years 2005–2016 in Finland. A total of 3851 adult MM patients with C90.0 diagnosis fulfilling all inclusion criteria were included in the analysis. The average myeloma incidence was six cases per 100,000, which slightly increased (p = 0.011) during the follow-up. The age-standardized incidence was three cases per 100,000 in the years 2005–2016. On average, 25% of patients received autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), and this proportion increased during the years 2005–2015 from 17 to 30%. The majority of patients under 65 years of age received ASCT treatment (60.5%), whereas only 8.7% of patients 65 years of age or older were treated with ASCT. The net median overall survival improved by approximately 5 months from 2005–2010 (3.44 years) to 2011–2016 (3.89 years); after adjusting for covariates, this presented an annual 4% reduction in the risk of death. Longer median survival and decreased risk of death indicate improved treatment outcomes from 2005 to 2016 among adult MM patients in Finland.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge writing assistance from Kai Kysenius and Sari Vanhatupa (current employee and former employee at Medaffcon).

Funding

This study was funded by Takeda Oy.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medaffcon Oy, Espoo, Finland

    Iiro Toppila, Tatu Miettinen & Mariann I. Lassenius

  2. Takeda Oy, Helsinki, Finland

    Tatu Miettinen & Melissa Bauer

  3. Department of Hematology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

    Juha Lievonen & Pekka Anttila

Authors
  1. Iiro Toppila
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  2. Tatu Miettinen
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  3. Mariann I. Lassenius
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  4. Juha Lievonen
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  5. Melissa Bauer
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  6. Pekka Anttila
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Contributions

IT, TM, MIL, MB, PA contributed to the study design and objectives, interpretation of results, and revising the manuscript. IT was further responsible for data analysis and MIL was responsible for manuscript development. JL critically reviewed the results and contributed to interpretation as well as revision of the manuscript. All authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Iiro Toppila.

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Ethics approval

The study was approved by each register holder.

Conflict of interest

IT, MIL, and TM are employees of Medaffcon Oy; TM is and MB was an employee of Takeda Finland; JL has received consultation fees from Amgen, Celgene, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sanofi, Takeda, Janssen, and travel grants from Janssen, Celgene, Amgen, Novartis, TEVA, Takeda, Roche, Abbvie, Pfizer; PA has been the Hematologist in charge for treatment of plasma cell malignancies at the Helsinki University Hospital and has received consultation fees from Amgen, BMS, Celgene, GSK, Janssen, Novartis, Sanofi and Takeda and travel grants from AbbVie, Amgen, BMS, Celgene, Sanofi Genzyme, Janssen, Mundipharma, Novartis, Roche and Teva.

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Appendix

Appendix

Appendix 1
figure 6

Overall survival of MM patients stratified by age (black, < 65 years; gray ≥ 65 years) at the time of diagnosis

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Toppila, I., Miettinen, T., Lassenius, M.I. et al. Characteristics and survival trends in Finnish multiple myeloma patients—a nationwide real-world evidence study. Ann Hematol 100, 1779–1787 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00277-021-04481-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00277-021-04481-4

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