Late effects in survivors of acute leukemia treated with hematopoietic cell transplantation: a report from the Bone Marrow Transplant Survivor Study

Abstract

The Bone Marrow Transplant Survivor Study is a retrospective cohort study in which participants who received hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) between 1974 and 1998 and survived for 2 years completed a 255-item questionnaire on late effects occurring after HCT. There were 281 survivors with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and 120 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Siblings of participants (n=319) were recruited for comparison. Median age at interview was 36.5 years for survivors and 44 years for siblings. Median follow-up after HCT was 8.4 years. Conditioning included total body irradiation in 86% of AML and 100% of ALL subjects. The frequencies of late effects did not differ between ALL and AML survivors. Compared with siblings, survivors had a higher frequency of diabetes, hypothyroidism, osteoporosis, exercise-induced shortness of breath, neurosensory impairments and problems with balance, tremor or weakness. In multivariable analysis, the risk of these outcomes did not differ by diagnosis. Survivors after allogeneic HCT had higher odds of diabetes (odds ratio (OR)=3.9, P=0.04), osteoporosis (OR=3.1, P=0.05), abnormal sense of touch (OR=2.6, P=0.02) and reported their overall health as fair or poor (OR=2.2, P=0.03). Ongoing surveillance for these late effects and appropriate interventions are required to improve the health status of ALL and AML survivors after HCT.