Predictive Models for Long Term Survival of AML Patients Treated with Venetoclax and Azacitidine or 7+3 Based on Post Treatment Events and Responses: Retrospective Cohort Study

Background The treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in older or unfit patients typically involves a regimen of venetoclax plus azacitidine (ven/aza). Toxicity and treatment responses are highly variable following treatment initiation and clinical decision-making continually evolves in response to these as treatment progresses. To improve clinical decision support (CDS) following treatment initiation, predictive models based on evolving and dynamic toxicities, disease responses, and other features should be developed. Objective This study aims to generate machine learning (ML)–based predictive models that incorporate individual predictors of overall survival (OS) for patients with AML, based on clinical events occurring after the initiation of ven/aza or 7+3 regimen. Methods Data from 221 patients with AML, who received either the ven/aza (n=101 patients) or 7+3 regimen (n=120 patients) as their initial induction therapy, were retrospectively analyzed. We performed stratified univariate and multivariate analyses to quantify the association between toxicities, hospital events, and short-term disease responses and OS for the 7+3 and ven/aza subgroups separately. We compared the estimates of confounders to assess potential effect modifications by treatment. 17 ML-based predictive models were developed. The optimal predictive models were selected based on their predictability and discriminability using cross-validation. Uncertainty in the estimation was assessed through bootstrapping. Results The cumulative incidence of posttreatment toxicities varies between the ven/aza and 7+3 regimen. A variety of laboratory features and clinical events during the first 30 days were differentially associated with OS for the two treatments. An initial transfer to intensive care unit (ICU) worsened OS for 7+3 patients (aHR 1.18, 95% CI 1.10-1.28), while ICU readmission adversely affected OS for those on ven/aza (aHR 1.24, 95% CI 1.12-1.37). At the initial follow-up, achieving a morphologic leukemia free state (MLFS) did not affect OS for ven/aza (aHR 0.99, 95% CI 0.94-1.05), but worsened OS following 7+3 (aHR 1.16, 95% CI 1.01-1.31) compared to that of complete remission (CR). Having blasts over 5% at the initial follow-up negatively impacted OS for both 7+3 (P<.001) and ven/aza (P<.001) treated patients. A best response of CR and CR with incomplete recovery (CRi) was superior to MLFS and refractory disease after ven/aza (P<.001), whereas for 7+3, CR was superior to CRi, MLFS, and refractory disease (P<.001), indicating unequal outcomes. Treatment-specific predictive models, trained on 120 7+3 and 101 ven/aza patients using over 114 features, achieved survival AUCs over 0.70. Conclusions Our findings indicate that toxicities, clinical events, and responses evolve differently in patients receiving ven/aza compared with that of 7+3 regimen. ML-based predictive models were shown to be a feasible strategy for CDS in both forms of AML treatment. If validated with larger and more diverse data sets, these findings could offer valuable insights for developing AML-CDS tools that leverage posttreatment clinical data.