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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Hematol.
Sec. Blood Cancer
Volume 3 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frhem.2024.1502166

Impact of leukaemia subtype and demographics on patient quality of life in 76 countries: a cross-sectional study

Provisionally accepted
Sam Salek Sam Salek 1*Samantha Nier Samantha Nier 2Zack Pemberton-Whiteley Zack Pemberton-Whiteley 2Tatyana I Ionova Tatyana I Ionova 3Giuseppe Ianni Giuseppe Ianni 4Giovanni Tripepi Giovanni Tripepi 5Nick York Nick York 6Nicole Schroeter Nicole Schroeter 6Kathryn Huntley Kathryn Huntley 6Michael Rynne Michael Rynne 6Denis Costello Denis Costello 6Lidija Pecova Lidija Pecova 6Esther Natalie Oliva Esther Natalie Oliva 7
  • 1 School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
  • 2 Acute Leukemia Advocates Network (ALAN), Leukemia Patient Advocates Foundation, Bern, Switzerland
  • 3 Quality of Life Monitoring Department, Saint Petersburg State University Hospital, Saint Petersburg, Russia
  • 4 DIELNET SrL, Reggio Calabria, Italy
  • 5 IFC-CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology, Reggio Calabria, Italy
  • 6 CLL Advocates Network, Leukemia Patient Advocates Foundation, Bern, Switzerland
  • 7 U.O.C. di Ematologia, Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Bianchi Melacrino Morelli, Reggio Calabria, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Disease-specific factors associated with decreased quality of life (QoL) in patients with leukemia have not been studied in a large-scale, global, observational study.This study used the validated Hematological Malignancy Patient Reported Outcomes (HM-PRO) questionnaire to assess the impact of leukemia subtype, age, sex, and years living with the disease on QoL of patients with leukemia.Results: Overall, 2,628 patients responded: 45.7% had chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), 34.0% had chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), 11.8% had acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and 3.5% had acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). HM-PRO scores differed significantly between leukemia subtypes (p<0.001); patients with ALL reported the worst outcomes. Women had significantly worse scores than men (p<0.001). HM-PRO scores were inversely correlated both with age (ρ= -0.24, p<0.001) and years living with the disease (ρ= -0.14, p<0.001).Conclusion: Patients reported the greatest concerns over their future treatment and future health, as well as concerns over dying and being a burden to others. Patients need access to support services, such as the availability of a clinical psychologist as part of the hematology team, to provide support with the emotional aspects of a leukemia diagnosis, especially for patients with acute leukemia subtypes reporting the lowest mean QoL scores.

    Keywords: Leukaemia, Patient-Centered Care, patient experience, patient-reported outcomes, Quality of Life

    Received: 26 Sep 2024; Accepted: 30 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Salek, Nier, Pemberton-Whiteley, Ionova, Ianni, Tripepi, York, Schroeter, Huntley, Rynne, Costello, Pecova and Oliva. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sam Salek, School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, 10 9AB, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.