A notable percentage of patients aged 65 and older with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) does not receive chemotherapy, according to a study published in Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma & Leukemia. Utsave Joshi, MD, and colleagues analyzed data from 16,196 patients diagnosed with ALL from 2006-2016. Using the χ2 test, baseline characteristics were compared between the groups who did versus did not receive chemotherapy. Of the entire cohort, 8% (N=1,258) of patients received no chemotherapy. A progressive increase in the number of patients with advancing age who did not receive chemotherapy was noted. “There was an upward trend in the receipt of chemotherapy in patients older than 65 over the last decade,” the study authors wrote. However, “in multivariate analysis, the likelihood of receiving chemotherapy decreased with advancing age, single or widowed status, low income and educational status, and lack of insurance.”
