Baseline Characteristics of 412 Hodgkin's Lymphoma Patients Diagnosed between July 2015 and May 2018: A Report from China Lymphoma Patient Registry (CLAP)

Introduction

Lymphoma is the most common hematologic tumor with about 88000 newly diagnosed cases in China in 2015 (Chen et.al, CA Cancer J Clin 2016). To better understand the epidemiology, treatment and prognosis of lymphoma in China, Beijing Cancer Hospital and other four hospitals jointly launched China Lymphoma Patient Registry (CLAP) study (NCT03313271) in early 2017. By the end of March 2018, a total of 3458 lymphoma patients, including 412 Hodgkin's Lymphoma (HL) cases and 3046 Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) cases, had been prospectively and retrospectively recruited. Here we report the baseline characteristics and initial treatment of HL patients diagnosed between July 2015 and March 2018.

Method

This is an observational bi-directional cohort study based on medical records of hospitalized lymphoma patients. Inclusion criteria of this study include: 1) newly diagnosed as HL after July 2015 in five participating hospitals; 2) age >=18 yrs old at time of disease diagnosed; 3) given informed consent if prospective follow-up is needed. This study has been approved by Institutional Review Board (IRB) of all study sites. Medical records of newly diagnosed adult HL patients in five participating hospitals were systematically reviewed. Study data, including patient demographic information, disease baseline characteristics, treatment options and prognosis were manually entered or directly transferred into a predesigned electronic database with the support of Medbanks Network Technology Co., Ltd. In this study, descriptive analysis was used to understand the distribution of patient demographic information (age, gender, medical history, etc.), disease baseline characteristics (symptom, score, stage, etc.) and initial treatment option (if ABVD) for HL population as a whole as well as by subtype stratification.

Result

A total of 412 HL patients were identified between July 2015 and March 2018. Among all HL patients, nodular sclerosis type of classic Hodgkin's lymphoma (NSCHL) was the most common subtype (53.6%) followed by mixed cell type of classic Hodgkin's lymphoma (MCCHL) (23.1%)(Figure1). All classic subtypes accounted for over 93% of all HL patients. Male is more common than female (60.4%vs39.6%), especially for nodular lymphocytes predominant type of HL (NLPHL). However, no statistical significant gender difference was observed across different subtypes. Age of NSCHL patients was relative younger than patients with other subtypes with a median age of 31. The general health status of most HL patients was relative good at first diagnosis, the percentage (excluding missing) of patient with recorded B symptoms and ECOG score >=2 were 42.4% and 2%, respectively. The distribution of clinical staging was 4.9%, 46.1%, 18.2% and 26.5% for I-IV respectively. Doxorubicin, Bleomycin, Vincristine, Dacarbazine (ABVD) contained regimen was the most common initial treatment regimen and was received by 72% of HL patients and no statistical significant difference was observed in term of ABVD use across HL subtypes (Table1). Hypertension was the most common comorbidity and 7% HL patients had reported concomitant hypertension followed by diabetes (4.4%), hepatitis B (1.9%) and tuberculosis (1.0%) (Figure2). Previous personal history of cancer and family history of cancer were reported by 1.7% and 9.2% of study subjects, respectively (Figure3).

Conclusion

Compared with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, HL is less common, less aggressive and attracts less attention from researchers. In 2013, only about 700 HL newly diagnosed cases were reported, accounting for 5.4% of total lymphoma patients in the country (He, Chen, Chinese Cancer Registry Annual Report 2016). Although some multi-center studies had reported the pathology distribution of HL (Sun et.al, Am J Clin Pathol 2012; Cao et.al, Ann Diagn Pathol. 2018), very few of them have more detailed information on disease characteristics and treatment. As one of the biggest observational studies focus on HL in the country as well as in the region, this registry provides a unique opportunity and platform to understand the whole picture of HL diagnosis, treatment and prognosis in real world.

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