Incidence and survival of Hodgkin lymphoma patients treated at a national cancer center in a middle-income country from 1999-2018: A report of 1,382 cases.
Authors: Vasquez Chavez Jule Franve , Zapata Arturo , Garcia Juan Luis , Barrionuevo Carlos , Diaz Edgar , Poquioma Ebert , Vidaurre Tatiana , Malpica Luis ,   INEN
Published: June 2021

e19523

Background: Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is classically described as a malignancy with a good prognosis and bimodal pattern. We aim to describe the incidence and survival of HL patients treated at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Peru. Methods: We evaluated the database at the NCI Epidemiology Department in Peru from 1999-2018. The international classification of diseases (ICD)-10 codes C810-C813, C817, C819 and ICD for Oncology (version 3) codes 96503-96533, 96573-96593, 96533-96553, 96573, 99903 were used to classify both nodal and extra-nodal HL. The estimate of overall survival (OS) curves was performed by the Kaplan-Meier method, and the difference was computed by the log-rank test. Results: During the study period 12,092 patients with lymphoma were found, of which 1,382 (11.4%) were HL. The median age was 24 years (range 2-88). Male patients were 62.4%. Patients of ≤14 years were 32.9%, with the most frequent 5-year interval group those aged 5-9 years-old representing 16.7% of patients. The adolescent and young adults (AYA) (15-39 years) group represented 38.4%. A total of 1,360 (98.4%) were classified as nodal HL. The classification according to the subtypes was as follows: 1,148 (83.1%) were one of the five subtypes [classical HL (cHL) and nodular lymphocyte-predominant HL (NLPHL)], 196 (14.2%) were HL, not otherwise specified, and 38 (2.7%) were HL without pathological confirmation. The classifiable 1,148 patients were categorized as follows: 1,107 patients (96.4%) were cHL and 41 (3.6%) were NLPHL. The cHL patients were classified as mixed cellularity HL (MCHL) in 52.3%, nodular sclerosis HL (NSHL) in 36.7%, lymphocyte-rich HL (LRHL) in 8.1%, and lymphocyte-depleted HL (LDHL) in 2.9%. The whole classifiable cohort (n = 1,148) showed a trimodal pattern. The MCHL subtype was most frequent in the 5-9 years group and in the 60-64 years group. The NSHL subtype was most frequent in the 20-24 years group. The median 5-year OS of the entire cohort (n = 1,382) was 86.3% (95%CI, 83.9-88.5). The OS according to the interval age groups were as follows: for the 0-14 years group the 5-yr OS was 94.9% (95%CI, 91.8-96.8), for the 15-39 years was 84% (95%CI, 79.5-87.68), for the 40-64 years group was 82.5% (95%CI, 75.2-87.8), and for the ≥65 years group was 58.6% (95%CI, 43.4-71.1). The OS according to age range showed a statistically significant difference p < 0.01. Conclusions: In our study, patients with HL are younger compared to those in developed countries. The most frequent 5-year interval group is the 5-9 years group. HL incidence had a trimodal pattern. Extra-nodal presentation was extremely rare. NLPHL was also rare. The most frequent subtype was MCHL, however, in AYA patients the most frequent subtype was NSHL. Better OS was seen in the 0-14 year group, this being statistically significant compared to the older groups. Worse OS was observed in patients aged 65 and older.