In patients with multiple myeloma (MM), gender, age, marital status, tumor grade, and surgery were significant risk factors for death via thromboembolic and cardiovascular diseases, according to results from a population-based study presented recently at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2019 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
Patients with MM are at a higher risk for cardiovascular and thromboembolic events, so researchers used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to assess data from 55,991 patients with multiple myeloma to analyze cardiovascular and thromboembolic mortality risk in these patients. A total of 4510 deaths by cardiovascular and thromboembolic events occurred.
Analyses revealed the hazard ratio (HR) for death via thromboembolic and cardiovascular diseases as a patient with MM was 1.39 for male patients (P =.005), 1.07 for increased age (P =.005), and 0.81 for being married (P =.0014). Tumor grade and surgery were also significant risk factors for death.
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The 4 cardiovascular and thromboembolic diseases resulting in death in patients with MM were atherosclerosis (n = 88), heart disease (n = 3799), aortic aneurysm and dissection (n = 39), and cerebrovascular disease (n = 1861). In addition, the higher the grade of MM, the lower the survival probability (P <.001).
Patients with hypertension and MM experienced the best median survival, and patients with aortic aneurysm and MM experienced the worst median survival.
The researchers noted that additional research is needed, particularly to identify patients who could benefit most from cardiovascular and thromboembolic prophylaxis.
Reference
Elfaituri MK, Morsy S, El-Qushayri AE, et al. Cardiovascular and thromboembolic diseases as a cause of death in multiple myeloma patients: a population based study. Poster presented at: American Association for Cancer Research 2019 Annual Meeting; March 29-April 3, 2019; Atlanta, GA. Abstract 3302/22.
