RESUMO
Background: Secondary immunodeficiency (SID) disorders are known to occur in patients with haematological malignancies (HM) due to immunosuppressive treatments. Recurring infections causing subsequent morbidity and mortality commonly occur in this patient cohort. Immunoglobulin replacement therapy (IgRT) benefits patients with primary antibody deficiencies. However, evidence supporting their therapeutic role is not as explicit in SID-associated antibody deficiencies, which raises the questions regarding its use in SID and the knock-on effects of this use on its access and availability more generally. Objectives: This study aimed to learn about the use of immunoglobulins in SID, identify themes concerning its use and access and suggest methods for improving access. Design: This study included a thematic analysis of a published data set of 43 articles concerning immunoglobulin use and access in SID. Data Sources and Methods: The data set used to perform the thematic analysis is based on research articles identified from Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE) and PubMed databases, published as part of a systematic review and part 1 of this two-part publication series. Results: A thematic synthesis was conducted to identify recurrent themes. The three primary themes included (1) the context for IgRT prescription, which included patient characteristics and cost burden of IgRT administration, and its use in different countries; (2) factors contributing to inappropriate IgRT use, including health care professionals' awareness of IgRT, disparity between guidelines and actual clinical practice, and the effect of shortages on prescription and chemotherapy-induced hypogammaglobulinemia (HGG); and (3) measures identified to improve IgRT use and access, which included multidisciplinary involvement, improved diagnostic tools and safer withdrawal and stewardship protocols. Conclusions: IgRT use is increasing in HM as a supportive therapy but without comprehensive clinical guidelines and appropriate prescribing recommendations, medication wastage may occur with consequences for immunoglobulin access.
Access and Use of Immunoglobulins in Supportive Cancer Care: A Thematic Analysis of a Systematic Review Data Set This study covers the use of immunoglobulins in SID, identifies themes concerning its use and access and suggests ways for improving both using a thematic analysis approach. The study identified that IgRT use is increasing in haematological malignancies as a supportive therapy but without comprehensive clinical guidelines and appropriate prescribing recommendations, medication wastage may occur with consequences for immunoglobulin access.
RESUMO
Background: Immunoglobulin replacement therapy (IgRT) benefits patients with primary immuno deficiency (PID) originating from the innate or polygenic defects in the immune system. However, evidence supporting their therapeutic role is not as explicit in secondary immuno deficiency (SID) resulting from the treatment of haematological malignancies. Objectives: This study aimed to (1) create a dataset of relevant research papers, which explore the use of IgRT in SID for analysis, (2) assess the risk of bias within this dataset and (3) study the characteristics of these papers. Design: This systematic review was performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement. In addition to the risk of bias, the study characteristics explored in this article included study design, study geographical location and year of publication. Data Sources and Methods: To identify studies relevant to the research question, EMBASE and PubMed databases were searched. The Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome (PICO) framework was used to assess study quality. Risk of bias and quality of studies were assessed in accordance with the study design. As one model was not appropriate to assess bias in all articles, several tools were used. Results: A total of 43 studies were identified from the literature search as relevant to the research objective. The most common study design was a retrospective case-control cohort study (n = 16/43), and randomised trials were among the least commonly used approaches (n = 1). Research in this area is occurring around the globe including the United States (n = 7), Italy (n = 7), China, India, Japan and throughout Europe. The annual number of papers in this area has varied from 2012 (n = 1) to 2021 (n = 7). The studies in this article demonstrated a varied risk of bias, with 9 of the 20 cohort studies scoring less than 5 out of 9 stars. Conclusions: Randomised controlled trials are less frequently used to assess access and use of immunoglobulins. More commonly, a retrospective case-control cohort study was used which correlates with the higher risk of bias seen in the studies in this article. Most of the research concerning immunoglobulin use and access occurs in higher-income countries.
