The degree of neutropenia has a prognostic impact in low risk myelodysplastic syndrome

Abstract

The severity of neutropenia in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) has not been completely studied. We analyzed the prognostic significance of severe neutropenia (neutrophils count<0.5×109/L) at diagnosis in 1109 patients with de novo MDS and low/intermediate-1 IPSS included in the Spanish MDS Registry. Severe neutropenia was present at diagnosis in 48 of 1109 (4%). Patients with severe neutropenia were most strongly represented within the groups of refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia (40%) and refractory anemia with excess of blast type 1 (29%). Severe neutropenia had negative effects on the low/intermediate-1 risk group. A significant difference in overall survival was observed between patients with severe neutropenia (28months) and patients with a neutrophil count higher than 0.5×109/L (66months) (p<0.0001). Also, severe neutropenia predicted a significantly reduced on leukemia-free survival (p<0.0001). In the multivariate analysis, severe neutropenia retained its independent prognostic influence on overall survival [HR: 2.19, 95% CI (1.41–3.10), p<0.0001] and leukemia free survival [HR: 3.51, 95% CI (1.97–6.26), p<0.0001]. The degree of neutropenia should be considered as additional prognostic factor in low/intermediate-1 IPSS MDS.