Epidemiology and survival outcomes of acute myeloid leukemia patients in Taiwan: A national population-based analysis from 2001 to 2015

Objectives/Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common acute leukemia in adults, with high mortality. To date, there is no comprehensive population-based analysis of patients with AML in Asia, including Taiwan. Material and methods: This is a retrospective cohort study using three population-based databases, namely, the Taiwan Cancer Registry, Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database, and Taiwan Death Registry, between 2001 and 2015 to provide detailed information on patients with AML and relevant clinical variables, such as sex, age, year of diagnosis, socioeconomic status (SES) level, hospital level, treatment location, and Deyo-Charlson Comorbidity Index (Deyo-CCI) score. Results: Patients with newly diagnosed AML (n = 9949) were included in the study. The median age was 60 years, and the overall age-adjusted AML incidence over 15 years was 2.44 per 100,000 person-years. The median overall survival (OS) of patients younger than 65 years was 18 months, whereas the OS of patients older than age 65 was only 5 months. AML patients with a prior cancer history had the worst outcomes, and the acute promyelocytic leukemia subtype predicted better survival. Patients who were older, male and a higher Deyo-CCI score had a significantly higher risk of death. In contrast, patients with a higher SES level and receiving treatment in a medical center had a lower risk of mortality than their respective counterparts. Conclusion: Our study results could enable clinicians to obtain a comprehensive picture of the epidemiology, survival outcomes and unmet medical needs of AML patients in Taiwan.