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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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Nassar, Amr, Khalid F. Tabbara, and Mahmoud Aljurf. "Ocular manifestations of graft-versus-host disease." Saudi Journal of Ophthalmology 27.3 (2013): 215-222.
  8. Tabbara, Khalid F., et al. "Ocular findings after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation." Ophthalmology 116.9 (2009): 1624-1629.
  9. 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.
  10. Fall-Dickson, Jane M., et al. "Oral complications of chronic graft-versus-host disease." JNCI Monographs 2019.53 (2019): lgz007.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. Lee, Stephanie J., and Mary ED Flowers. "Recognizing and managing chronic graft-versus-host disease." ASH Education Program Book 2008.1 (2008): 134-141.
  14. 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)
  15. 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
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
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