Demographics and Overall Survival Pattern of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in a Tertiary Hospital in South-South Nigeria: The Calabar Experience

Background: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a bi- or triphasic disease comprising of the chronic phase (present at diagnosis in approximately 85% of patients) which can easily be controlled with conventional chemotherapy, followed by unstable accelerated phase and terminating in a blastic phase. The treatment of CML has evolved over the years The availability of the tyrosine kinase inhibitors has distinctly changed the disease course for patients with Ph+ and/or BCR-ABL1+ (CML). This study aims to determine the demographics and overall survival patterns of CML patients in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH)l.

Methods: The study is a retrospective study of twenty-two (22) CML patients seen and managed at the UCTH from June 2014 to August 2021. Male/female distribution was 9/13, with a median age of 42 years. Overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) were determined using the Kaplan-Meier techniques. The data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2016 and IBM SPSS version 21.

Results: Total of 22 CML patients were seen over the 8-year-period of review. The mean age was 42.63, median age 42, and modal age was 37 years respectively. There were 9 males and 13 females. 20 of the patients were in the chronic phase while 2 were in the terminating blastic phase. The presence of mutation was seen in two patients while the remaining 20 showed no mutation. Of the patients, 6 were dead and 16 are alive at the time of review. The overall survival period ranges from 12 to 84 months. The survival distributions for mutation and state of the disease (chronic or blastic) were not statistically significantly different, X2= 3.204, p = 0.073.

Conclusion: There is inconsistency in the demographic and overall survival pattern of chronic myeloid leukaemia in our environment. Further study is needed to identify the factors which can help to improve the overall survival pattern in our environment.