cGVHD Burden

cGVHD is the most common complication of alloHSCT, leading to significant multi-organ damage and affecting ~54% of patients annually and increasing both premature mortality and healthcare costs.1 | ![]() |

Among patients undergoing alloHSCT, approximately 54% develop cGVHD, out of which ~35% experience a moderate form and ~30% a severe form of the disease.1
A substantial proportion of patients with cGVHD present with concomitant inflammatory and fibrotic manifestations.2
- Up to 50% of patients with moderate cGVHD and 60% with severe disease may exhibit lung involvement, which can manifest as bronchiolitis obliterans, a fibrotic manifestation that can be especially difficult to treat.3
Non-relapse mortality continues to increase over time in patients with cGVHD reaching 22% after 5 years.14
Direct costs increase by 1.5 times in mild cGVHD and 4 times in moderate to severe cGVHD, compared with patients post-alloHSCT without cGVHD.15
Social functioning, physical functioning, general health, and other QoL components are worsened with cGVHD progression.16-17
Abbreviations
alloHSCT: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; cGVHD: Chronic graft-versus-host disease; QoL: Quality of life.
- Bhatt, V. R., T. Wang, K. Chen, C. L. Kitko, M. L. MacMillan, J. A. Pidala, M. M. Al Malki, S. M. Badawy, A. Beitinjaneh, S. Ganguly, B. Hamilton, G. C. Hildebrandt, L. J. Lekakis, H. Liu, R. T. Maziarz, D. Modi, H. S. Murthy, J. M. Preussler, A. Sharma, S. R. Spellman, M. Arora and S. J. Lee (2022). "Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease, Nonrelapse Mortality, and Disease Relapse in Older versus Younger Adults Undergoing Matched Allogeneic Peripheral Blood Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: A Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research Analysis." Transplant Cell Ther 28(1): 34-42.
- Jagasia, M., et al. "National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Project on Criteria for Clinical Trials in Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease: I. The 2014 Diagnosis and Staging Working Group Report." Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, vol. 21, no. 3, 2015, pp. 389-401.e1
- Alam, Naheed, et al. "Allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation significantly increases risk of chronic graft-versus-host disease of lung compared with bone marrow transplantation." Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation 18.12 (2012): 1905-1910. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1083879112002881#bib26
- Wan, Bo, et al. "Real-World Outcomes of Pfts in Screening for Lung Involvement in Chronic Gvhd Post-Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant: A Retrospective Study of 387 Patients in British Columbia, Canada." Blood 142 (2023): 3559. doi: https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2023-185055
- Shi, Connie R., et al. "Cutaneous Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease: Clinical Manifestations, Diagnosis, Management, and Supportive Care." Transplantation and Cellular Therapy 30.9 (2024): S513-S533.
- Feng, Qing, et al. "Diagnostic prediction of gastrointestinal graft-versus-host disease based on a clinical-CT-signs nomogram model." Insights into Imaging 15.1 (2024): 84.
- Nassar, Amr, Khalid F. Tabbara, and Mahmoud Aljurf. "Ocular manifestations of graft-versus-host disease." Saudi Journal of Ophthalmology 27.3 (2013): 215-222.
- Tabbara, Khalid F., et al. "Ocular findings after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation." Ophthalmology 116.9 (2009): 1624-1629.
- Tuchocka-Piotrowska, Aleksandra, et al. "Graft-versus-host disease as the cause of symptoms mimicking Sjögren's syndrome." Annales Academiae Medicae Stetinensis. Vol. 52. 2006.
- Fall-Dickson, Jane M., et al. "Oral complications of chronic graft-versus-host disease." JNCI Monographs 2019.53 (2019): lgz007.
- Yang, Alexander H., et al. "Characterization of hepatic dysfunction in subjects diagnosed with chronic GVHD by NIH consensus criteria." Transplantation and cellular therapy 28.11 (2022): 747-e1.
- Calleja, Cristina Hidalgo, et al. "Chronic graft-versus-recipient disease: systematic review of joint and fascial involvement." Reumatología Clínica (English Edition) 19.5 (2023): 235-243.
- Lee, Stephanie J., and Mary ED Flowers. "Recognizing and managing chronic graft-versus-host disease." ASH Education Program Book 2008.1 (2008): 134-141.
- DeFilipp, Z., et al. "Nonrelapse Mortality Among Patients Diagnosed with Chronic GVHD: An Updated Analysis from the Chronic GVHD Consortium." Blood Advances, vol. 5, no. 20, 2021, pp. 4278-4284; (4)
- Schain, F., et al. "Real-World Study of Direct Medical and Indirect Costs and Time Spent in Healthcare in Patients with Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease." European Journal of Health Economics, vol. 22, 2021
- Lachance, S., N. Hamad, J. de Courcy, G. Gibson, M. Zuurman and M. Mohty (2021). Impact of Chronic GvHD Severity and Steroid Response on the Quality of Life in Patients Following Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation: Findings from a Real-World Study. The 47th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Virtual.
- Pidala, Joseph, et al. "Patient-reported quality of life is associated with severity of chronic graft-versus-host disease as measured by NIH criteria: report on baseline data from the Chronic GVHD Consortium." Blood, The Journal of the American Society of Hematology 117.17 (2011): 4651-4657.