Demographic, Hematologic, and Clinical Features of Myelodysplastic Syndrome Patients: Results from the First Polish Myelodysplastic Syndrome Registry

Abstract

Epidemiological studies on myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) in Middle-Eastern Europe are scarce. No data about the demographic, clinical, and laboratory features of Polish MDS patients have been published. The aim of this study was to assess the epidemiological data and toxic exposure of Polish MDS patients and their association with hematological parameters and clinical outcomes. For 15 months, 966 living MDS patients were enrolled at 24 centers (12 university and 12 community hospitals). Follow-up was conducted for the next 55 months. The percentage of patients older than 80 years (16%) was between the values for Eastern and Western countries. In patients younger than 55 years, a female predominance was observed (male/female ratio 0.70:1 vs. 1.29:1; p < 0.001). Female patients had higher platelet counts (160 × 10⁹/l vs. 111 × 10⁹/l; p < 0.001). Patients exposed to chemicals were younger than patients without such exposure; their median age at MDS diagnosis was 66 vs. 70 years (p = 0.037). Smokers had significantly lower hemoglobin concentrations (8.6 vs. 9.1 g/dl; p = 0.032) and lower platelet counts (99 × 10⁹/l vs. 137 × 10⁹/l; p < 0.001) than nonsmokers. We provide the first description of the characteristics of Polish MDS patients. Females predominated in the group aged <60 years and they had higher platelet counts. The course of the disease is affected by toxic exposure and smoking.

Clinicohematological and Cytogenetic Profile of Myelodysplastic Syndromes in Pakistan – Compare and Contrast

“…MDS is generally considered a preleukemic disorder and is prevalent in elder individuals in western world [5]. However, median age at diagnosis in our study was younger which concurs with other studies done in Asia [1][2][3][4][6][7][8] as compared to the studies from west with higher median age in MDS (Greece, Germany, Poland) [10,14,15]. In our study we observed male predominance which is universally seen in this disorder [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8].…”

“…Monosomy 7 is not commonly observed in previous studies [3,6,[9][10][11][12][13]15] except for one study from India showing higher frequency [8]. CK in our study was observed to be lower as compared to China [6].…”

“…On the other hand refractory anemia (RA) was most commonly observed in China and Greece [6,10]. In our study, hypoplastic MDS was seen in 23 (13%) which is an interesting finding not observed in previous studies [1][2][3][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Refractory cytopenia of childhood (RCC) was observed in only one of our patients.…”

“…2). Mean hemoglobin (Hb), total leukocyte count (TLC), platelets, MCV at baseline and subtypes of MDS as per WHO classification in comparison with other national and international studies is shown in Table 1 [1][2][3][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

Red Blood Cell Transfusion Dependency and Hyperferritinemia Are Associated with Impaired Survival in Patients Diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndromes: Results from the First Polish MDS-PALG Registry

“…The data for the Central European population is scarce and there was no description for Poland. The first characteristics of Polish MDS patients regarding epidemiological data, toxic exposure and their association with hematological parameters and clinical outcome was first published by our group and this study is the second analysis of the first Polish MDS Registry [18]. The aim of this study was to perform an analysis of RBC-transfusion dependence and SF concentration in patients from the Polish MDS Registry and examine its relationship with red blood cell transfusion dependency and its influence on survival and AML transformation.…”