Renal Insufficiency May Worsen Multiple Myeloma Outcomes

FRIDAY, Jan. 22, 2021 (HealthDay News) — For patients with multiple myeloma (MM), those with renal insufficiency (RI) have an increased risk for disease progression or death, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis published online Jan. 8 in Leukemia & Lymphoma.

Ghulam Rehman Mohyuddin, M.D., from the University of Kansas City in Kansas, and colleagues conducted a systematic review of all MM randomized clinical trials (RCTs) from 2005 to 2019 to examine reporting of prevalence, eligibility criteria, and outcomes of patients with RI and MM. Data were included for 123 RCTs.

The researchers found that 30 percent of the trials reported on the proportion of patients with RI and 68.2 percent reported eligibility criteria relating to RI; there was no uniformity in the reported criteria. Patients with versus those without RI had a significantly increased relative risk for disease progression or death (relative risks, 1.20 for relapsed/refractory MM and 1.07 for newly diagnosed MM).

“Patients with MM and RI enrolled [in] RCTs have inferior outcomes compared to patients without RI in both the relapsed/refractory and front-line setting,” the authors write. “There remains an urgent need for higher enrollment of patients with RI in RCTs and more consistent reporting of their enrollment criteria.”

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)