Financial Toxicity and Quality of Life in Patients Undergoing Stem-Cell Transplant Evaluation: A Single-Center Analysis.

PURPOSE: We investigated the prevalence of financial toxicity in a population undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) evaluation and measured its impact on post-transplant clinical and health-related quality-of-life outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a prospective study in patients undergoing evaluation for allogeneic HCT between January 1, 2018, and September 23, 2020, at a large academic medical center. Financial health was measured via a baseline survey and the comprehensive score for financial toxicity-functional assessment of chronic illness therapy (COST-FACIT) survey. The cohort was divided into three groups: none (grade 0), mild (grade 1), and moderate-high financial toxicity (grades 2-3). Health-related quality of life outcomes were measured at multiple time points. Multivariate logistic regression analysis evaluated factors associated with financial toxicity. Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests was used to evaluate overall survival (OS) and nonrelapse survival. RESULTS: Of 245 patients evaluated for transplant, 176 (71.8%) completed both questionnaires (median age was 57 years, 63.1% were male, 72.2% were White, and 39.2% had myelodysplastic syndrome, 38.1% leukemia, and 13.6% lymphoma). At initial evaluation, 83 (47.2%) patients reported no financial toxicity, 51 (29.0%) with mild, and 42 (23.9%) with moderate-high financial toxicity. Patients with financial toxicity reported significant cost-cutting behaviors, including reduced spending on food or clothing, using their savings, or not filling a prescription because of costs (P < .0001). Quality of life was lower in patients with moderate-high financial toxicity at 6 months (P = .0007) and 1 year (P = .0075) after transplant. Older age (>62; odds ratio [OR], 0.33 [95% CI, 0.13 to 0.79]; P = .04) and income ≥$60,000 in US dollars (USD) (OR, 0.17 [95% CI, 0.08 to 0.38]; P < .0001) were associated with lower odds of financial toxicity. No association was noted between financial toxicity and selection for transplant, OS, or nonrelapse mortality. CONCLUSION: Financial toxicity was highly correlated with patient-reported changes in compensatory behavior, with notable impact on patient quality of life after transplant.

Efficacy of probiotic treatment as post-exposure prophylaxis for COVID-19: A double-blind, Placebo-Controlled Randomized trial.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose unprecedented challenges to worldwide health. While vaccines are effective, additional strategies to mitigate the spread/severity of COVID-19 continue to be needed. Emerging evidence suggests susceptibility to respiratory tract infections in healthy subjects can be reduced by probiotic interventions; thus, probiotics may be a low-risk, low-cost, and easily implementable modality to reduce risk of COVID-19. METHODS: In this initial study, we conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial across the United States testing probiotic Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) as postexposure prophylaxis for COVID-19 in 182 participants who had household exposure to someone with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosed within ≤7 days. Participants were randomized to receive oral LGG or placebo for 28 days. The primary outcome was development of illness symptoms within 28 days of COVID-19 exposure. Stool was collected to evaluate microbiome changes. RESULTS: Intention-to-treat analysis showed LGG treatment led to a lower likelihood of developing illness symptoms versus placebo (26.4 % vs. 42.9 %, p = 0.02). Further, LGG was associated with a statistically significant reduction in COVID-19 diagnosis (log rank, p = 0.049) via time-to-event analysis. Overall incidence of COVID-19 diagnosis did not significantly differ between LGG and placebo groups (8.8 % vs. 15.4 %, p = 0.17). CONCLUSIONS: This data suggests LGG is associated with prolonged time to COVID-19 infection, reduced incidence of illness symptoms, and gut microbiome changes when used as prophylaxis ≤7 days post-COVID-19 exposure, but not overall incidence. This initial work may inform future COVID-19 prevention studies worldwide, particularly in developing nations where Lacticaseibacillus probiotics have previously been utilized to reduce other non-COVID infectious-morbidity. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04399252, Date: 22/05/2020. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04399252.

Preconditioning Frailty Phenotype Influences Survival and Relapse for Older Allogeneic Transplantation Recipients.

Hematologic malignancies disproportionately affect older adults. Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is potentially curative, but poor overall survival (OS) has limited its use in older adults. Fried's frailty phenotype (FFP) is a geriatric assessment tool that combines objective and subjective performance measures: gait speed, grip strength, activity level, exhaustion, and weight loss. People meeting ≥3 criteria are classified as frail; 1 or 2 criteria, as pre-frail; and 0 criteria, as fit. To evaluate the association of pre-HCT FFP with post-HCT outcomes, we assessed FFP prior to conditioning for 280 HCT recipients age ≥60 years with acute leukemia or a myeloid neoplasm at 3 institutions. When analyzing survival by age group, patients age ≥70 years had inferior OS compared to patients age 60 to 69 years (P = .002), with corresponding OS estimates of 38.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 27.8% to 49.9%) and 59.3% (95% CI, 51.9% to 65.9%). Nonrelapse mortality (NRM) also was significantly higher in the older patients (P = .0005); the 2-year cumulative incidences of NRM were 38.5% (95% CI, 27.5% to 49.2%) and 17.2% (95% CI, 12.3% to 22.8%), for older and younger recipients, respectively. The cumulative incidences of relapse did not differ by age group (P = .3435). Roughly one-third (35.5%) of the patients were fit, 57.5% were pre-frail, and 7.5% were frail, with corresponding 2-year OS estimates of 68.4% (95% CI, 57.9% to 76.8%), 45.5% (95% CI, 37.4% to 53.2%), and 45.8% (95% CI, 23.4% to 65.8%) (P = .013). FFP was not significantly associated with NRM, but being frail or pre-frail was associated with a higher rate of disease-related deaths (33.3% and 27.3%, respectively, compared with 17.4% for fit patients; P = .043). In univariate modeling of restricted mean survival time with a 3-year horizon (RMST_3y), the factors that were significantly associated were FFP, age, Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS), Disease Risk Index (DRI), and HCT-specific Comorbidity Index (HCT-CI). Of those factors, only FFP (P = .006), age (P = .006), KPS (P = .004), and DRI (P = .005) were significantly associated in multivariate modeling of RMST_3y. Estimates of RMST_3y were computed and 5 risk-groups were created with survival ranging from 31.4 months for those who were age 60 to 69 years, fit, had KPS 90 to 100, and low/intermediate-risk DRI compared to 10.5 months for those who had high-risk features for all the evaluated factors. In univariate and multivariate analyses for restricted mean time to relapse with a 3-year horizon (RMRT_3y), FFP (pre-frail versus fit, P = .007; frail versus fit, P = .061) and DRI (P = .001) were the only significant factors. Predicted RMRT_3y was longest (30.6 months) for those who were fit and had low/intermediate-risk DRI scores and shortest (19.1 months) for those who were frail and had high-risk or very high-risk DRI scores. Both age and FFP impact survival after HCT. Incorporation of FFP into pre-HCT evaluations may improve decision-making and counseling regarding HCT risk for older adults. Our findings support future trials designed to reverse frailty, such as pre-HCT supervised exercise programs, and correlative analyses to unravel the connection of frailty and relapse to generate future targets for intervention. Finally, exploration of novel HCT platforms to reduce relapse in pre-frail and frail patients, as well as reduce NRM in adults age >70 years, are warranted.

A pilot study to assess the feasibility of a remotely monitored high-intensity interval training program prior to allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

INTRODUCTION: Although allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) can be a curative therapy for hematologic disorders, it is associated with treatment-related complications and losses in cardiorespiratory fitness and physical function. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) may be a practical way to rapidly improve cardiorespiratory fitness and physical function in the weeks prior to HCT. The primary aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of implementing a pre-HCT home-based HIIT intervention. The secondary aim was to evaluate pre to post changes in cardiorespiratory fitness and physical function following the intervention. METHODS: This was a single-arm pilot study with patients who were scheduled to undergo allogeneic HCT within six months. Patients were instructed to complete three 30-minute home-based HIIT sessions/week between the time of study enrollment and sign-off for HCT. Sessions consisted of a 5-minute warm-up, 10 high and low intervals performed for one minute each, and a 5-minute cool-down. Prescribed target heart rates (HR) for the high- and low-intensity intervals were 80-90% and 50-60% of HR reserve, respectively. Heart rates during HIIT were captured via an Apple Watch and were remotely monitored. Feasibility was assessed via retention, session adherence, and adherence to prescribed interval number and intensities. Paired t-tests were used to compare changes in fitness (VO2peak) and physical function [Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), 30-second sit to stand, and six-minute walk test (6MWT)] between baseline and sign-off. Pearson correlations were used to determine the relationship between intervention length and changes in cardiorespiratory fitness or functional measures. RESULTS: Thirteen patients (58.8±11.6 years) participated in the study, and nine (69.2%) recorded their training sessions throughout the study. Median session adherence for those nine participants was 100% (IQR: 87-107). Adherence to intervals was 92% and participants met or exceeded prescribed high-intensity HR on 68.8±34.8% of intervals. VO2peak improved from baseline to sign-off (14.6±3.1 mL/kg/min to 17.9±3.3 mL/kg/min; p<0.001). 30-second sit to stand and SPPB chair stand scores significantly improved in adherent participants. Improvements in 30-second sit to stand (13.8±1.5 to 18.3±3.3 seconds) and 6MWT (514.4±43.2 to 564.6±19.3) exceeded minimal clinically important improvements established in other chronic disease populations, representing the minimum improvement considered meaningful to patients. CONCLUSIONS: Findings demonstrate that implementing a pre-HCT home-based remotely monitored HIIT program is feasible and may provide benefits to cardiorespiratory fitness and physical function.

Geriatric Assessment Reveals Actionable Impairments in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Candidates Age 18 to 80 Years.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) is a potentially curative treatment for both malignant and nonmalignant hematologic diseases; however, reported rates of treatment-related mortality approach 30%. Outcomes are worse in patients who begin HCT with functional impairments. To detect such impairments, a geriatric assessment (GA) is recommended in adults age ≥65 years. Younger HCT candidates also may be impaired because of chemotherapy regimens pre-HCT. Therefore, we hypothesized that GA can be beneficial for adult patients of all ages and subsequently created a clinical pretransplantation optimization program to assess all HCT candidates using a modified GA. One-hundred fifty-seven patients were evaluated in 4 functional domains- physical, cognitive, nutritional, and psychological-at 2 time points prior to HCT-new patient evaluation (NPE) and sign-off (SO)-between October 2017 and January 2020. At NPE, 80.9% of the patients had at least 1 domain with a functional impairment, and physical (P = .006), cognitive (P = .04), and psychological (P = .04) impairments were associated with an increased likelihood of not proceeding to HCT. In addition, patients age 18 to 39 years were more likely than older patients to have a physical function impairment (P = .001). Between NPE and SO, 51.9% of the patients had resolution of 1 or more impairments, and nutritional impairment at SO was predictive of worse overall survival (P = .01). Our study shows that GA can identify functional impairments in patients of all ages. Early identification of impairments could facilitate referrals to supportive care and resolution of impairments prior to HCT, suggesting that GA could be recommended for HCT candidates of all ages.