Epidemiological and demographic characteristics of gynecological sarcoma: Results of the prospective intergroup registry for gynecological sarcoma in Germany (REGSA–NOGGO RU1).
Authors: Roser Eva , Noack Anne-Sophie , Zocholl Dario , Kommoss Stefan , Harter Philipp , Kalder Matthias , Egger Eva-Katherina , Buderath Paul , Marth Christian , Ulrich Uwe Andreas , Klar Maximillian , Weigel Michael , Traub Lea Franziska , Strauss Hans-Georg , Hanker Lars Ch. , Wimberger Pauline , Pölcher Martin , Beck Felix , Pietzner Klaus , Sehouli Jalid 
Published: June 2022

e17630

Background: Gynecological sarcomas (GS) are orphan diseases associated with poor prognosis. With the aim to improve our understanding of GS, the German registry for gynecological sarcoma (REGSA) prospectively recorded patients’ data with GS treated in real-life clinical practice at initial diagnosis and the time of relapse. Herein, we present the analysis of demographic and epidemiological data of patients with GS at the time of initial diagnosis. Methods: An exploratory analysis among different histological subtypes of GS was performed and patients’ data were compared to data of the healthy standard population. We analyzed the following variables: age, body mass index (BMI), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status, ethnicity, lifestyle habits, pregnancies, and comorbidities. Results: Data of 389 patients with GS were descriptively evaluated. Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) was the most common histological subtype (47.3%), followed by low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma (LG-ESS; 17.7%), high-grade ESS (HG-ESS; 10.4%), adenosarcoma (AS; 9.1%) and undifferentiated uterine sarcoma (UUS; 6.2%). Overall, 9.4% of all GS were classified as “other” rarer histological subtypes. The mean age of patients was 57.4 years. The youngest were the patients with LG-ESS (54.3 years), whereas patients with AS were the oldest ones (61.7 years). There were no statistically significant differences in average age nor in BMI among patients with different histological subtypes of GS. In contrast, compared to the standard population, the BMI of patients with GS was significantly higher (27.5 kg/m² vs 25.1 kg/m², p< 0.001). Overall, 70.7% of all patients with LMS had FIGO stage I or II. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of patients had ECOG performance status 0 (68.3%). According to the countries of recruitment (i.e. Germany, Austria, Switzerland), 92.8% of patients were Caucasian. REGSA patients were less likely to be smokers compared to the national average of German women (13.4% vs 18.6%). One or two births per patient were reported in 58.2% of patients. In comparison the current birth ratio in Germany is approximately 1.5 children per woman. Hypertension was the most common comorbidity as observed in 33.2% of all cases, followed by thyroid diseases (18.6%). The prevalence of hypertension in the German female standard population is approximately 30% and approximately every third person will be affected by thyroid diseases in their lifetime. Conclusions: REGSA data showed no statistically significant differences in terms of demographic variables between different histological subtypes of GS, whereas statistically significant difference such as BMI was identified as compared to the standard population. Further research is needed to specify risk factors of GS in order to promote primary prevention of this fatal disease.