Treatment advances for classical Hodgkin Lymphoma (cHL) have improved outcomes, but studies are lacking in older patients. This analysis aims to investigate survival trends in older individuals with cHL using the Texas Cancer Registry (TCR). Adults ≥ 65 years with cHL were separated into three eras: 1995-2002, 2003-2010, and 2011-2017. Pearson chi-squared test and cox-proportional hazard models along with hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) compared demographic factors, and survival trends were assessed by Kaplan-Meier methodology. There were 386 (37.4%), 336 (32.5%), and 311 (30.1%) individuals diagnosed in 1995-2002, 2003-2010, and 2011-2017, respectively. Median DSS per era was 97 months (95% CI 50.7, 143.3), 158 months (95% CI 132.5, 183.5), and not reached, (p=0.383), and median OS was 32 months (95% CI 23.4, 40.6), 37 months (95% CI 23.5, 50.5), and 40 months (95% CI 26.8, 53.1), respectively (p=0.693). Median OS was worse for blacks and Hispanics vs non-Hispanic whites (p=0.007), increasing age (p<0.001), and higher poverty index (p=0.006). While DSS and OS have not improved over the past two decades for older individuals, there are disparity dependent survival differences by race, age, and poverty index. Strategies to reduce these disparities are needed.
Burns et al. (Fri,) studied this question.