What Are the Late Effects, Quality of Life in Patients With Severe Aplastic Anemia After HSCT?

Patients with severe aplastic anemia undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) remain at risk for late effects, according to a study presented at the 2024 Tandem Transplant & Cellular Therapy Meetings of ASTCT® and CIBMTR®.

The study, led by presenting author Neel Bhatt, MBBS, MPH, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (Fred Hutch), also found no differences in late effects and quality of life among donor types.

The researchers evaluated surveys sent between 2015 and 2023 to patients with severe aplastic anemia who underwent HSCT. A total of 122 participants self-reported educational and vocational status, chronic conditions, medications, and quality-of-life data.

Most (67%) respondents received HSCT using matched-related donors, 20% used matched-unrelated donors, and 13% used alternative donors.

At the time of the survey, nearly half (48%) of respondents were working full-time, and 24% were working part-time. The most common reported chronic conditions included problems with sexual desire, erection, ejaculation, vaginal dryness, or pain (36.2%), cataracts (25.4%), and osteoporosis or osteopenia (24.5%). Patients had a median of one medical problem requiring medications, most commonly hypertension, high cholesterol, and gastro-esophageal reflux.

Quality of life was measured through the short-form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire. The mean physical and mental component summary scores were 49.4 (11.0) and 49.9 (12.2), respectively.

While no significant differences were found when comparing the SF-36 scores among donor types, “this could be due to the long interval between [HSCT] and completion of survey,” wrote Dr. Bhatt and colleagues.

Overall, these findings show “the need for lifelong monitoring” of patients with severe aplastic anemia undergoing HSCT, according to the study’s authors.

Reference

Bhatt NS, Onstad L, Carpenter P, et al. Self-reported late effects and quality of life (QOL) of long-term survivors of severe aplastic anemia who have undergone allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT). Abstract #474. Presented at the 2024 Tandem Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Meetings of ASTCT® and CIBMTR®; February 21-24, 2024; San Antonio, Texas.