Evidence indicates that balancing treatment efficacy with complication risk is critically important for older adults with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL); however, the survival outcomes, rates of toxicities, and healthcare utilization of this patient population is not well known. For a study, researchers assessed data on adults older than 65 (median age, 73) diagnosed with aggressive NHL and treated with systemic therapy. The 5-year overall survival rate was 74.2%, with rates of 82.1%, 72.2%, 73.5%, and 66.3% for those aged 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, and older than 80, respectively. However, the grade 3+ toxicity rate was 42.4%, and the grade 4 or 5 toxicity rate was 8.1%. Rates of unplanned hospitalization and ICU admission during the first 6 months of treatment were 41.0% and 6.1%, respectively. Upon multivariable analysis, hypoalbuminemia (odds ratio [OR], 4.22) and number of comorbidities (OR, 2.76) were associated with greater likelihood of grade 3+ toxicity, while hypoalbuminemia (OR, 2.76), number of comorbidities (OR, 1.61), and receipt of EPOCH (OR, 5.41) were associated with greater likelihood of unplanned hospitalization.
