Characteristics and predictors of infusion-related reactions to rituximab in patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Abstract

This retrospective study aimed to assess the characteristics and predictors of infusion-related reactions (IRRs) to rituximab in patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL). The medical records of adult patients with B-NHL who received their first cycle of rituximab from August 2020 to August 2022 were reviewed. IRRs were defined as any signs experienced by patients during rituximab infusion and graded according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events. During the study period, 334 patients were included; among them, 100 patients (30%) developed IRRs (mean age 54.7 (SD 13.2) years). Of the reported IRRs, 90% were grade II reactions, and 10% were grade III reactions. The multivariate analysis identified indolent lymphoma [OR 1.90, p = 0.025], no hydrocortisone as premedication [OR 3.03, p = 0.029], thrombocytopenia [OR 2.55, p = 0.009], and absolute lymphocyte count ≥ 2000 lymphocytes/microL [OR 1.74, p = 0.045] as independent predictors for IRRs.

Keywords:

• Rituximab
• infusion-related reactions
• non-Hodgkin lymphoma
• B-cell lymphoma
• adverse reactions

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Ms. Ayat Taqash for the contribution in the data analysis.

Authors’ contributions

Conceptualization: Nour Faqeer; Investigation: Nour Faqeer, Rand Al-Haddadin, Rawaa Alrabie; Data Curation: Nour Faqeer, Rand Al-Haddadin, Rawaa Alrabie; Formal analysis: Nour Faqeer, Mohammad Ma’koseh; Writing-review & editing: Nour Faqeer, Rand Al-Haddadin, Rawaa Alrabie, Mohammad Ma’koseh. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that all data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article.