New Study Suggests Socioeconomic Status Affects Access to Leukemia Transplant, Not Survival
A new study highlights the impact of socioeconomic factors on access to lifesaving leukemia treatment, with patients from lower-income and less-educated neighborhoods less likely to receive a hematopoietic cell transplantation.
Results of the study were presented at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting. According to researchers, once patients receive the transplant, their survival rates appear similar, regardless of their socioeconomic background.
At the #ASH24 Plenary Session, Natalie Wuliji, DO from @fredhutch discussed a multi-center observational study looking at the impact of socioeconomic factors on access to and outcomes of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for AML.
— Moffitt Cancer Center (@MoffittNews) December 9, 2024
➡️ Lower educational attainment could… pic.twitter.com/vWoqaYjNzp
The study followed 695 adults with acute myeloid leukemia across 13 academic medical centers. Researchers examined how various socioeconomic factors, such as income, education and poverty, affected the likelihood of receiving a hematopoietic cell transplantation and surviving after the procedure.
Lower Education, Higher Poverty Linked to Fewer Transplants
Patients living in areas with higher rates of residents lacking a high school diploma were 32% less likely to receive a hematopoietic cell transplantation. For each 10% increase in the percentage of residents without a high school education, the likelihood of receiving a transplant dropped by 32%.
Similarly, patients from neighborhoods with more households relying on food stamps were also less likely to undergo the procedure. For every 10% increase in households using food stamps, the chances of receiving a hematopoietic cell transplantation decreased by 14%.
Income Doesn’t Affect Post-Transplant Survival
While socioeconomic status influenced whether patients received the transplant, it did not appear to affect survival after the procedure. The study found no significant differences in survival rates between patients from lower- or higher-income areas after they received a hematopoietic cell transplantation.
Brandon Blue, MD
The findings point to access to care as a major issue for people in lower socioeconomic brackets.
“There is a lot of data showing that things like education and poverty do not affect patients once they receive a transplant,” said Dr. Brandon Blue, a hematologist at Moffitt Cancer Center. “This data only suggests that the poor outcomes in patients in lower socioeconomic groups is due to lack of referrals and access to transplant centers. Once a transplant center sees the patient, the difference goes away. However, the next step from this study is to find out why these patients aren’t being transplanted. Is it the doctors aren’t referring them? Or is it the patients not being eligible?”
Efforts To Improve Access
Programs like the ACCESS initiative from the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy and the National Marrow Donor Program are working to reduce disparities and ensure all patients have access to lifesaving transplants, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
The study underscores the importance of addressing socioeconomic barriers to care. While lower education and higher poverty levels make it harder for some patients to receive transplants, once they do, their survival outcomes are similar to those from wealthier backgrounds. Ensuring equal access to hematopoietic cell transplantation, regardless of socioeconomic status, is critical in improving cancer treatment outcomes for all patients.
