Acute myeloid leukemia in Mexico: the specific challenges of a developing country. Results from a multicenter national registry

Abstract Background In the last decades, long-term survival outcomes for younger patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have improved. Nonetheless, developing nations might be lagging behind, highlighting the need to assess real-world outcomes in such regions. Methods We performed a multicenter retrospective study, which included patients with AML diagnosed between January 2013 and December 2017 from 13 centers in Mexico. Results A total of 525 patients with AML met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. Median age for the entire cohort was 47 years. The patients were classified according to cytogenetic risk: favorable 16.0%, intermediate 55.6% and unfavorable 28.4%. Most patients received intensive chemotherapy (80.2%), and among these 74.1% underwent a 7+3 induction regimen. A complete remission was achieved in 71.3% of patients. Induction related mortality occurred in 17.8% and we identify as independent risk factors: >60 years (OR=2.09 (1.09-4.02)), ECOG>2 (OR=4.82 (2.46-9.43)), prior solid tumor (OR=3.8 (1.24-11.59)) and active infection (OR=1.82 (1.06-3.12)). Further, AlloHSCT was performed in 8.2% in CR1. The 3-year overall survival (OS) was 34.8%. In a multivariate analysis several factors were independently associated with a worse OS, including secondary AML (HR=2.14 (1.15-4.01)) and unfavorable cytogenetic risk (HR=1.81 (1.16-2.82)), whereas maintenance therapy (HR=0.53 (0.32-0.86)) and allogeneic HSCT (HR=0.40 (0.17-0.94)) were associated with better OS. Conclusions This is the first multicenter report analyzing AML-survival in Mexico. Challenges in this setting include a high induction-related mortality and low AlloHSCT rate, which should be addressed in order to improve outcomes.