Incidence and survival patterns of cutaneous T-cell lymphomas in the United States

Abstract

Using the United States Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) 17 dataset, we examined incidence and survival patterns for patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCLs) diagnosed following institution of the World Health Organization–European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (WHO-EORTC) classification. From 2005 to 2008, 2273 cases of CTCL were diagnosed. The age-adjusted incidence rate per 100 000 person-years for mycosis fungoides (MF) was 0.55 and for Sézary syndrome (SS) was 0.01. Incidence was higher among males (MF/SS male-to-female incidence rate ratio [IRR] 1.57) and black patients (MF black-to-white IRR 1.55). Black patients with CTCL were diagnosed at a younger age and black patients with MF/SS presented with advanced stage and had worse survival than white patients. In multiple-variable Cox-regression models, age > 60 (hazard ratio [HR] 4.78, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.97–7.70), black race (HR 2.09, 95% CI 1.29–3.37) and advanced stage (HR 6.06, 95% CI 3.66–10.05) predicted worse survival for patients with MF/SS. Additional research identifying reasons for these differences are necessary to better understand these diseases and for new strategies in the treatment of CTCL.

Keywords::

• Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma
• incidence
• treatment outcome
• racial disparities

Potential conflict of interest:

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at www.informahealthcare.com/lal.

This work was supported by Dr. Flowers’ Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scientist Award and an American Society of Hematology Amos Medical Faculty Development Award.