Treatment patterns, economic burden, and overall survival in US Medicare Advantage beneficiaries newly diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in 2015-2020

The present study assessed changes in patient management, economic burden, and overall survival (OS) in a contemporary cohort of 2775 US Medicare Advantage beneficiaries aged >= 66 years newly diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) between 01 January 2015 and 30 June 2020. Use of venetoclax-based therapy increased and replaced hypomethylating agent (HMA) monotherapy as the most common first-line treatment choice in 2019-2020. In newly diagnosed AML patients aged >= 75 and 66-74 years, mean per-patient 1-year healthcare expenditures were $81,818 and $156,033 (2020 USD) and median OS was 2.3 and 8.5 months, respectively. In addition, 40% of Medicare Advantage patients with newly diagnosed AML continue to receive supportive care alone. These findings indicate that at the population level clinical outcomes remain poor for older adults with AML, pointing to a continuing unmet medical need.