| Abstract: |
The purpose of this large observational study was to examine outcomes in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) by timing to definitive chemotherapy (TTC) using standard and propensity score (PS)-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models. From 1998-2011, 56,457 patients with stage I-IV HL were studied, with a median follow-up of 6.0 years (median age=39). Median TTC was 26 days from diagnosis. The cohort of early (<60 days from diagnosis) TTC patients included 45,307 (80.3%) patients and late (60 days) TTC was 11,150 (19.7%). Patients were more likely to experience early TTC if they were of a younger age, at an advanced stage, with B symptoms, favorably insured, favorable socioeconomic status, and treated at comprehensive cancer center (all p<0.05). Ten-year overall survival for patients with early TTC was 73.2% vs. 70.0% for those with late TTC (HR=0.87; 95%CI, 0.83-0.92, p<0.0001). After PS-matching for co-variates, early TTC was not associated with overall survival (HR=0.96; 95%CI, 0.85-1.08, p=0.51). This represents the only study to evaluate overall survival by time to definitive treatment for H |
