Association Between Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor (G-CSF) Use and Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) or Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Among Elderly Patients with Breast, Lung, or Prostate Cancer.

INTRODUCTION

Patients diagnosed with cancer have an increased risk both for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) following treatment.

METHODS

Using SEER-Medicare data, we selected patients aged 66 years and older who completed systemic therapy between 2002 and 2014 for breast (stage I-III), lung (stage I-III), or prostate (stage I-IV) cancer. For each cancer, we estimated the risk of a composite endpoint of MDS or AML in patients receiving granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) vs. not.

RESULTS

The 10-year cumulative risk difference (granulocyte colony-stimulating factor [G-CSF] - no G-CSF) for MDS-AML was 0.45% (95% CI 0.13-0.77%) in breast cancer and 0.39% (95% CI 0.15-0.62%) in lung cancer. G-CSF use was associated with a hazard ratio of 1.60 (95% CI 1.07-2.40) in breast cancer and 1.50 (95% CI 0.99-2.29) in lung cancer. Filgrastim use was associated with a hazard ratio of 1.01 (95% CI 1.00-1.03) per administration in breast cancer and 1.02 (95% CI 0.99-1.05) per administration in lung cancer. Pegfilgrastim was associated with a hazard ratio of 1.08 (95% CI 1.01-1.15) per administration in breast cancer and 1.12 (95% CI 1.00-1.25) per administration in lung cancer. Analyses in prostate cancer were limited because of the low number of events.

CONCLUSIONS

The use of G-CSF in patients diagnosed with breast and lung cancer is associated with an increased risk of MDS-AML. However, the MDS-AML absolute risk difference is very low.