Demographic, clinical, and hematologic characteristics of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in Upper Egypt: association with treatment responses

Background and objectives Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a relatively indolent hematologic malignancy that carries poor prognosis if left untreated. With the recent advances in treatment options for CML, therapy could be tailored to each patient based on patient and/or disease characteristics. This research aimed to study the characteristics of patients with CML in Upper Egypt and to investigate their influence on various therapeutic responses. Patients and methods A retrospective study was conducted at the Hematology Unit of Assiut University Hospital and South Egypt Cancer Institute. The demographic, clinical, hematologic, and follow-up data of patients with CML were extracted from hospital records at both Assiut University Hospital and South Egypt Cancer Institute during the period from January 2007 to December 2012, representing a total of 180 patients. Records with incomplete data or unavailable follow-up were excluded from the study. Results and conclusion The median age of participants was 42 years, and the male-to-female ratio was 1 : 1.7. The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status was the most important effector of both hematologic and therapeutic responses (P = 0.000), followed by the phase of the disease (P = 0.000 and 0.017, respectively), and lastly the Philadelphia chromosome (P = 0.07 and 0.000, respectively). Moreover, leukocytosis was associated with poor hematologic and cytogenetic responses (r = 0.19, P = 0.000; r = −0.16, P = 0.05). A small proportion of patients achieved complete hematologic and cytogenetic responses (45 and 52%, respectively). These novel findings may reflect a trend of young age, female-predominant CML in Upper Egypt and could be attributed to the ethnic and socioeconomic differences of our patients compared with those in similar studies.