Health-related quality of life in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia: a systematic literature review

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Remarkable advances have been made in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) research over the past decades and many patients can now also be cured without traditional chemotherapy. Therefore, the assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and other types of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) is highly relevant in the current APL treatment landscape.

Areas covered: A systematic literature review was performed to identify APL studies assessing HRQoL that were published over the last 15 years. Eligible studies were evaluated on a predetermined data extraction form including information on the study design, PRO measure used, as well patient characteristics and summary of HRQoL findings. For descriptive purposes, selected studies were grouped and discussed based on the type of treatment: standard chemotherapy only versus those also including more recent targeted arsenic trioxide (ATO)-based strategies.

Expert opinion: Inclusion of HRQoL in APL research was important to better understand the benefit-risk profile of intravenous ATO compared to traditional chemotherapy. While some information on HRQoL and symptoms in APL survivors treated with standard chemotherapy is available, the long-term effects of ATO therapy on patients’ HRQoL are largely unknown. Additionally, future studies are needed to evaluate the potential advantages of oral ATO over intravenous administration.

KEYWORDS:

• Acute promyelocytic leukemia
• quality of life
• patient-reported outcome
• clinical trial
• arsenic trioxide
• symptom burden

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to dedicate this review in memory of their friend and renowned scientist in APL research, Francesco Lo Coco.

Declaration of interest

F Efficace receives personal fees from Abbvie, Amgen, Orsenix, Takeda, Janssen and research grants (Institution) from Amgen, outside the submitted work and is also the first author of some of the studies identified in this review. M Breccia receives honoraria from Novartis, Pfizer, Incyte and Celgene, outside the submitted work. M Vignetti receives personal fees from Amgen, Millenium Pharmaceuticals, Celgene, Janssen, Novartis and Incyte, outside the submitted work. U Platzbecker receives research support from TEVA, BMS, and Novartis, outside the submitted work.

The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.