Clinical characteristics, post-treatment assessment and prognostic factors affecting patient survival of patients at 65 years of age or older with hodgkin lymphoma: A retrospective multicenter study from Turkey

Abstract

Introduction: During the last three decades, major advances have been made in the therapy of Hodgkin's lymphoma. However, despite these advances, Hodgkin's lymphoma has a poor prognosis in the elderly. The proportion of Hodgkin's lymphoma patients aged > 60 ranges in the different reports between 15% and 35%. This study aimed to examine clinical characteristics, treatment outcomes and prognostic factors affecting patient survival in Hodgkin's lymphoma patients aged 65 years or older. Material methods: Hodgkin's lymphoma patients at 65 years of age and older managed within last 5 years in a total of 5 centers in Turkey were retrospectively assessed. Results: The median age of a total of 32 patients was 71 (65-83) years. Elderly patients presented more frequently with B symptoms, elevated sedimentation rate, mixed cellularity histologic subtype and comorbid disease. Less frequent were bulky disease, bone marrow involvement, and the application of autologous stem cell transplantation. The nodular lymphocyte predominant subtype and lymphocyte rich subtype were not observed at all. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, ferritin, total protein, and histological type were significant predictors affecting survival (p<0.05). Conclusions: Hodgkin's lymphoma is a more fatal disease in 65 years of age or older, when compared to the young population. Tumor biology, older age itself, and other factors related to comorbidity probably contribute to the worse outcome of elderly patients. Further large-scale studies are needed to better investigate the factors that were significant predictors of patient survival.