Do quality of life and physical function at diagnosis predict short-term outcomes during intensive chemotherapy in acute myeloid leukemia patients?

Abstract

7067 Background: Intensive chemotherapy (IC) used to treat acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is associated with multiple short-term toxicities including mortality, particularly in older adults. Emerging data suggest that baseline quality of life (QOL) assessment and/or objective physical function tests may predict outcomes in oncology, although there are no data in AML patients. We investigated the association between baseline QOL and physical function with short-term treatment outcomes in adult and elderly AML patients. Methods: We conducted a prospective, longitudinal study of adult (age 18+) AML patients undergoing IC. Prior to starting IC, patients completed the EORTC QLQ-C30 and FACT-Fatigue in addition to physical function tests (grip strength, timed chair stands, and 2-minute walk test). Outcomes included 60-day mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and achievement of complete remission (CR). Univariate and multivariable logistic regression were performed to evaluate each outcome. Results: Of the 243 patients (median age 57.5 y), 56.7% were male and median Charlson comorbidity score was 0. 60-day mortality, ICU admission, and CR occurred in 9 (3.4%), 15 (6.2%), and 171 (70.4%), respectively. In univariate regressions, neither QOL nor physical function tests were predictive of 60-day mortality (all P>0.05), whereas cytogenetic risk group (P=0.04), ICU admission (P=<0.001), and remission status at 30 days (P=0.006) were. Fatigue was a significant predictor of ICU admission (p=0.02) whereas QOL and baseline physical function were not significant predictors. In univariate analyses, higher Charlson score was found to be a significant predictor of both ICU admission (P=0.01) and remission status at 30 days (P=0.002). Cytogenetic risk group was correlated with achievement of CR whereas neither QOL nor physical function were predictive (all P>0.05). Findings were similar when the subset of 96 elderly patients (age 60+) were examined. Conclusions: Baseline QOL and physical function tests in this prospective study were not associated with short-term mortality, ICU admission, or achievement of CR after the 1st cycle of chemotherapy.