Phlebotomy Frequency and Quality of Life and Productivity in Patients with Polycythemia Vera: Results from the MPN Landmark Survey in the United States

Background: Phlebotomy is a common and established treatment in patients diagnosed with polycythemia vera (PV) to reduce the risk of thromboembolic events, in both acute and chronic settings. However, phlebotomy may not alleviate all PV-related symptoms and its frequent application can cause moderate to profound iron deficiency, which may worsen PV-related symptoms. This analysis of MPN Landmark survey data examined patient-reported quality of life (QoL) and productivity outcomes in patients with PV based on phlebotomy treatment history.

Methods: Patients who were diagnosed with a myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) were recruited to participate in the MPN Landmark survey in the US (fielded May - July 2014). This analysis describes responses from patients with PV on questions regarding PV-related symptom burden, QoL, and productivity. Patient responses were analyzed based on phlebotomy treatment history and included patients who were actively receiving phlebotomy within the last 3 months (≥1 per month, every other month, and every 3 months or longer), had discontinued phlebotomy, or were phlebotomy-naive. Descriptive statistical analyses were used to evaluate these outcomes based on phlebotomy frequency, as appropriate.

Results: Overall, 813 patients completed the Landmark survey, and 274 out of the 380 patients with PV who completed the survey were evaluable for this analysis. Mean age ranged from 61.6-65.4 years among phlebotomy subgroups (Table 1). The average duration of PV was longest among patients with PV who had discontinued phlebotomy (12.0 years) compared with phlebotomy-naive patients (6.3 years) and patients actively treated with phlebotomy (5.9-8.9 years). The percentage of patients diagnosed within 1 year of the survey ranged from 4.1% to 11.5% among the patients who had been treated with phlebotomy and was 15.4% in the phlebotomy-naive subgroup. Most patients reported PV-related symptoms; symptom burden was similar in all phlebotomy subgroups. Fatigue was the most common symptom reported in all subgroups (range, 71.4%-80.8%). QoL measures were generally worse with higher phlebotomy frequency (Table 1). Similarly, more frequent phlebotomy procedures was found to be associated with reduced productivity: patients who received ≥1 phlebotomy per month had the highest mean number (in the preceding 30 days) of sick days (among patients employed), days spent in bed, and days with plans canceled. Of note, approximately one third of patients receiving more frequent phlebotomy procedures were also receiving concomitant hydroxyurea to manage their PV (≥1 per month, 38.5%; every other month, 36.4%).

Conclusion: Patients with PV may experience disease-related symptoms and reductions in QoL and work productivity. Frequent phlebotomy procedures were associated with increasingly worsened QoL and decreased work productivity. Further research is needed to better understand the impact of phlebotomy on patient-reported outcomes in patients with PV.

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