10-year nationwide trends in incidence, treatment patterns, and mortality of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes in Denmark

Abstract

Further temporal data on incidence, treatment patterns, and prognosis for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are needed. This study examined 10-year trends in incidence, treatment patterns, and all-cause mortality in a population-based cohort of 2309 MDS patients using Danish nationwide registries (2010-2019). We computed annual incidence rates overall and according to sex and age-groups. We examined temporal changes in the cumulative incidence of MDS specific treatments initiated within one year from diagnosis and temporal changes in the absolute risk of death and five-year adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for death, adjusting for age, sex and comorbidity. The age-standardized incidence rate of MDS per 100,000 person-years increased slightly from 5.3 in 2010 to 6.4 in 2019. Between 2010-2012 to 2016-2017, the use of azacitidine increased overall (8% to 22%), in patients with intermediate risk MDS (12% to 34%), and in patients with high-risk MDS (22% to 50%), while it remained stable (around 5%) for patients with low-risk MDS. The five-year aHR for death in the most recent calendar period compared to the earliest calendar period remained unchanged in patients with low-risk MDS, aHR = 0.90 (95% CI, 0.72-1.12) and in patients with high-risk MDS, aHR = 1.19 (95% CI, 0.89-1.61), while survival improved over time among patients with intermediate risk MDS, aHR = 0.67 (95% CI, 0.48-0.92). In conclusion the incidence of MDS slightly increased during a 10-year period in Denmark. The use of azacitidine increased markedly but five-year overall survival remained unchanged.

Keywords: Incidence; MDS; Prognosis; Transfusion burden; Treatment.