Regional differences in treatment and outcome for myeloma patients in Sweden: A population based Swedish myeloma register study

Abstract

Background: We wanted to evaluate if health care for multiple myeloma (MM) patients is equal in different regions of Sweden. Aim: To study differences in survival for MM depending on health care region and early use of modern treatment. Methods and results: Data from the Swedish Myeloma Register from patients diagnosed between 2008 and 2017 was used. Cohorts were defined by the six healthcare regions (labeled A–F) in Sweden and modern initial treatment was defined as including certain drug combinations. To adjust for time to treatment bias, survival analyses were performed also for patients alive 6 months after diagnosis. In all treated MM patients (n = 5326), we observed a superior overall survival (OS) for region A compared to all other regions (p