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Short Report
28 November 2025

Patient characteristics, burden of disease, healthcare resource utilization and costs in acute myeloid leukemia – a retrospective observational study with German claims data

Authors: Katja Greth https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7700-163X [email protected], Moritz Lehne, Marco Ghiani, Antje Mevius, Simon Purcell, Stefan Kaulfuss, Mugdha Gokhale, and Alexander RussellAuthor Info & Affiliations
Volume 15, Number 1
https://doi.org/10.57264/cer-2024-0196
PDFFormats

Abstract

Aim: To assess patient characteristics, burden of disease, healthcare resource utilization and costs of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) by treatment intensity in German claims data. Materials & methods: In this retrospective cohort study using claims data from the German sickness fund AOK PLUS, we identified incident AML patients between 2012 and 2022. Incident AML patients were stratified into groups receiving intensive chemotherapy (IC) or nonintensive therapy (NIC). We then conducted descriptive analyses of patient characteristics, disease burden, including blood and platelet transfusions, healthcare resource utilization and costs. Results: We identified 1533 incident AML patients who received treatment (male: 53%; mean age: 67.7 years; median Charlson comorbidity index [CCI]: 5.0), corresponding to an incidence rate of 4.4/100,000. A total of 688 patients (44.9%) were categorized as IC, 845 patients (55.1%) as NIC. Notably, 860 additional patients (male: 48%; 78.0 years; median CCI: 5.0) had no relevant treatment code. NIC patients were older than IC patients (78.0 vs 61.0 years) and had a higher comorbidity burden (median CCI: 6.0 vs 4.0). NIC patients were hospitalized to a lesser extent (81.3% vs 87.9%), had shorter lengths of stay (64.0 vs 103.1 days/patient-year [PY]) and lower hospitalization costs/PY (56,063€/PY vs 110,186€/PY) compared with IC patients. Anemia and thrombocytopenia (NIC: 40.5 and 39.5%, IC: 76.9 and 42.6%) as well as blood and platelet transfusions were common, especially among IC patients (NIC: 93.0 and 74.3%, IC: 99.4 and 98.5%). Conclusion: Compared with IC patients, NIC patients were older, had a higher comorbidity burden and fewer hospitalizations. Combined with the high number of older patients not receiving AML treatment, this points to a lack of adequate treatment options for this patient population. The high rates of blood and platelet transfusions, particularly among IC patients, underscore the high disease burden and emphasize the need for better-tolerated therapies.

Plain language summary: Patients characteristics, burden of disease, healthcare use & costs in acute myeloid leukemia – a study with previously collected German Claims Data

What is this article about?

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a type of cancer and the most frequent form of acute leukemia in adults. Treatments for AML include intensive chemotherapy and stem cell transplants, which help many patients go into remission, but relapses are common and the overall outlook remains poor. Only 14–32% of patients survive for 5 years after diagnosis.
Our study looked at the real-world impact of AML on patients in Germany, focusing on those who received intensive chemotherapy (IC) and those who did not (NIC). We used data from a German health insurance fund covering 3.5 million people from 2010 to 2022. We identified 1533 new AML patients who received treatment and divided them into IC and NIC groups based on their medication within 45 days after diagnosis. We excluded patients who did not receive treatment within that time period.

What were the results?

Most AML patients were at least once in the hospital. NIC patients were older and had more other health issues (‘comorbidities’) compared with IC patients. NIC patients spent less time in the hospital compared with IC patients. Hospital costs were almost half for NIC patients compared with IC patients. Blood transfusions were very common, especially among IC patients. In both groups, more than 90% of patients in received blood transfusions. Platelet transfusions were also frequent, with almost all IC patients and most NIC patients receiving them.

What do the results mean?

Our findings show that older AML patients often do not appear to get adequate treatment and have a high burden of disease. The high numbers of blood transfusions also indicate a high disease burden and highlight the need for better treatment options that are easier to tolerate.

Shareable abstract

Based on German claims data, we found that many acute myeloid leukemia patients were treated with nonintensive therapy while at the same time a lot of acute myeloid leukemia patients were treated with blood and/or platelet transfusions, showing the urgent need for effective and well tolerable treatment options.

Supplementary Material

File (supplementary materials.docx)

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