Clinical outcomes of bortezomib-based therapy in Taiwanese patients with multiple myeloma: A nationwide population-based study and a single-institute analysis

Purpose In a retrospective cohort study, we report the current epidemiology of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) and analyze the real-world clinical outcomes of bortezomib-based therapy. Materials and methods This retrospective study was mainly designed to evaluate the characteristics, treatment outcomes, and prognostic factors of patients with MM who received bortezomib-based therapy. We identified 5,726 patients in Taiwan with MM newly diagnosed between 2007 and 2015. Confidential data from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) was used under strict guidelines, as it was made available in an electronic format for research purposes. In addition, we analyzed 96 patients who have been diagnosed with MM and were treated at the Tri-Service General Hospital (TSGH) between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2018. Results Patients receiving first-line treatment with bortezomib had longer overall survival (OS) compared to those who received non-first-line treatment (p<0.001). In addition, the statistically lowest risk of mortality was when patients received first-line bortezomib followed by an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.39, p<0.001). In the TSGH study, the patients were enrolled between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2018, with an initial diagnosis of MM; there were 96 individuals treated with bortezomib. There was no statistically significant difference in the OS or progression-free survival (PFS) according to the gender, myeloma type, International Staging System stage, or treatment regimen. There was a significant difference in the PFS in patients receiving first-line bortezomib treatment with transplantation compared to those without transplantation (p = 0.021). Conclusions Bortezomib as a first-line treatment extended the OS in four-year mortality tracking and lowered the mortality risk according to the NHIRD analysis. In the TSGH analysis, the results indicated that the initial conditions of patients with MM have a lower influence on the OS and PFS after bortezomib-based therapy was administered.