Kurzfassung: Introduction-Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) poses as a major late complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The role of cGVHD as a determinant in transplant-related morbidity and mortality, infectious complications, prolonged immune suppression, and impaired patient-reported quality of life has been extensively studied. Nonetheless, numerous advances in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-SCT) in recent years have expanded the indications for allo-SCT to a broader range of patients, including previously excluded older patients. However, long-term health status of older transplant recipients is poorly studied. Notably, the incidence of cGVHD may increase with age. Therefore, the development of cGVHD and the use of immunosuppressive therapy may lead to a higher degree of non-relapse mortality (NRM) in older patients. The objective of this study was to compare the NRM in both younger and older transplant recipients with and without cGVHD. Methods-We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients that underwent allo-SCT at the Ohio State University from 1999 to 2018. Data was analyzed from 1194 patients who survived or have been followed up with by at least day (d) 180 post-transplantation, among which 373 patients had developed cGVHD. Patients were grouped based on their age into a younger and older population. The older population was defined as ≥60 (N=373, 31%) with the younger population defined as & lt;60 (N=821, 69%) years (yr) of age. NRM was defined as death unrelated to relapse, with relapsed mortality as a competing risk. A landmark analysis approach was used to study the association between the age groups to NRM, stratified by whether or not patients had developed cGVHD by d180. Fine and Gray competing risk model was used to build the multivariable regression model controlling for confounding variables, such as gender, donor type, donor source, conditioning regimen, and diagnosis. Results-The median age at allo-SCT was 53.0 yr (range: 18-76) and 61.1% were male. Acute myeloid leukemia accounted for 36.7% of transplants, followed by non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (14.8%), acute lymphoid leukemia (12.7%), and myelodysplastic syndrome (11.0%). Additionally, 58.0% received reduced-intensity conditioning regimen. The majority of stem cell donor types were match unrelated (45.3%) and match related (39.8%). Patients who had developed cGVHD by d180, regardless of age, were at higher risk of NRM compared to patients with no cGVHD (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.52, 95% confidence interval [CI] : 1.16-1.99; p=0.002). To examine the influence of age with NRM, we stratified the analysis by cGVHD status by d180. Among patients developed cGVHD by d180, in both univariable (HR 1.22, 95% CI 0.79-1.9, p=0.373) and multivariable analysis (HR: 1.17, 95% CI: 0.74-1.87; p=0.501), there was no statistically significant difference in NRM between patients ≥60 and & lt;60 yr of age. Among patients without cGVHD by day 180, age ≥60 yr was a significant factor for increased NRM in both univariable (HR: 1.52, 95% CI 1.08-2.15; p=0.017) and multivariable (HR: 1.55, 95% CI: 1.04-2.30; p=0.031) analysis. Conclusion-This study showed that patients with cGVHD by day 180 were at higher risk for higher NRM compared to patients without cGVHD. Among cGVHD patients, there was no difference on the outcome of older patients (≥60 years old) compared to younger ones ( & lt;60 years old). This suggests that cGVHD therapy is equally tolerable among different age groups. Disclosures Chaudhry: Sanofi: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Bumma:Sanofi: Speakers Bureau; Amgen: Speakers Bureau. Khan:Amgen: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy. Devarakonda:Janssen: Consultancy. Vasu:Kiadis Inc: Other: Kiadis has obtained exclusive licensing requirements from The OHio State University; Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Omeros: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Jaglowski:Novartis: Consultancy, Research Funding; Juno: Consultancy; Kite, a Gilead Company: Consultancy, Research Funding; CRISPR: Consultancy. William:Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria; Dova: Research Funding; Guidepoint Global: Consultancy; Merck: Research Funding; Kyowa Kirin: Consultancy, Honoraria; Seattle Genetics: Research Funding; Incyte: Research Funding. Mims:Syndax Pharmaceuticals: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Other: Data Safety Monitoring Board; Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Kura Oncology: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Leukemia and Lymphoma Society: Other: Senior Medical Director for Beat AML Study; Novartis: Speakers Bureau; Agios: Consultancy. Brammer:Bristol-Myers Squibb: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Kymera: Honoraria; Verastem Oncology: Other: Travel. Saad:Magenta Therapeutics: Other: Personal Fees; Incyte Pharmaceuticals: Other: Personal Fees; Amgen: Other: research support; Kadmon: Other: research support; Orcabio: Other: research support. Efebera:Takeda: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Pharmacyclics: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding; Ohio State University: Current Employment.

Kurzfassung: Introduction: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HCT) is a potential curative therapy for a variety of both malignant and nonmalignant hematologic disorders. However, allo-HCT is costly and requires highly specialized, technologically advanced care that is only available in select healthcare centers across the country. Due to its cost and limited availability, minority populations are at risk for healthcare disparities in access to and outcomes of allo-HCT. Prior studies have focused on the impact of health disparities, including race, and geographic residence at time of transplant, on allo-HCT outcomes with variable results. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of race and location of residence on outcomes of allo-HCT at one major referral institution. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients that underwent allo-HCT at the Ohio State University from 1984 to 2018. The impact of demographic factors including race and place of primary residence were assessed. Patients were divided into race defined as Caucasian, African American (AA), and other. They were also grouped by zip code into rural, suburban, and urban groups. Rural was defined as less than 1000 people per square mile, suburban between 1000-3000 people per square mile, and urban greater than 3000 people per square mile. 2018 population estimates were used. Patients were then stratified into 7 groups based on year (yr) of transplant for analysis. Group (gp) 1 included 1984-1988, gp 2 1989-1993, gp 3 1994-1998, gp 4 1999-2003, gp 5 2004-2008, gp 6 2009-2013, and gp 7 2014-2018. Primary endpoints were progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). PFS and OS were calculated using Kaplan Meier Curves and compared using log-rank test between race and residence groups. Results: A total of 1,943 patients were included in the study. Of these patients, median age at time of transplant was 50 years old (range 18-76), and 59.6% were male. AML/MDS patients made up the majority of the cohort at 46.3%, with the other most common diagnoses being non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (14.2%), acute lymphocytic leukemia (11.8%), and chronic myeloid leukemia (10.1%). Most patients (94.3%) identified as Caucasian, while 4.6% identified as AA, and 1.1% other. The majority of patients lived in a rural area at the time of transplant with 63.4% rural, 22.9% suburban, and 13.8% urban. There was no significant difference in OS or PFS between Caucasian and AA patients (Figure 1A and B; p=0.15, 0.21). Median OS for AA was 1.9 yrs [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.8-3.6] as compared to 2.3 yrs (95% CI: 1.9-2.9) for Caucasians, with 5 -yr OS of 33 vs. 42% and 10-yr OS of 21 vs. 36% for AA and Caucasian, respectively. Median PFS was 0.9 (95% CI: 0.5-2.7) and 1.3 yrs (95% CI 1.1-1.6), with 5 -yr PFS of 30 vs. 37% and 10-yr PFS of 21 vs. 32% for AA and Caucasian, respectively. There also was no significant difference in OS or PFS between rural, urban, and suburban patients (Figure 2A and 2B; p=0.39, 0.17), with median OS in the three groups 2.2 (95%CI: 1.7-2.9), 2.9 (95%CI: 1.6-4.5), and 2.2 (95% CI: 1.6-3.6) yrs, and 5-yr OS of 40 vs. 43 vs. 43% and 10-yr OS of 33 vs. 39 vs. 39%, respectively. Median PFS were 2.2 (95%CI: 1.7-2.9), 2.9 (95%CI: 1.6-4.5), and 2.2 yrs [95% CI: 1.6-3.6] , with 5-yr PFS of 36 vs. 40 vs. 38% and 10-yr PFS of 30 vs. 37 vs. 35%, respectively. Conclusion: Our study suggests that once patients undergo allo-HCT, there is no significant difference in outcomes between patients based on race or residence. This finding suggests that while these underserved populations may initially have less access to specialized care for HCT, if they ultimately undergo allo-HCT, outcomes are similar to their counterparts. Our study did show a significantly lower rates of allo-HCT performed in non-Caucasian races (94% Caucasians vs 4.6% AA and 1% other), which may reflect disparities in access to care in these groups as well as a lack of donors. Further research is needed to assess the barriers for these underserved patients to undergo transplant and to help ameliorate these barriers. Disclosures Chaudhry: Sanofi: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Bumma:Amgen: Speakers Bureau; Sanofi: Speakers Bureau. Khan:Amgen: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy. Devarakonda:Janssen: Consultancy. Vasu:Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Omeros: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Kiadis Inc: Other: Kiadis has obtained exclusive licensing requirements from The OHio State University. Jaglowski:Kite, a Gilead Company: Consultancy, Research Funding; Juno: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy, Research Funding; CRISPR: Consultancy. William:Merck: Research Funding; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria; Dova: Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Research Funding; Incyte: Research Funding; Guidepoint Global: Consultancy; Kyowa Kirin: Consultancy, Honoraria. Mims:Syndax Pharmaceuticals: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Kura Oncology: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Leukemia and Lymphoma Society: Other: Senior Medical Director for Beat AML Study; Agios: Consultancy; Novartis: Speakers Bureau; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Other: Data Safety Monitoring Board. Brammer:Seattle Genetics, Inc.: Speakers Bureau; Celgene Corporation: Research Funding. Efebera:Celgene: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Research Funding; Takeda: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Ohio State University: Current Employment.

Kurzfassung: Introduction Socioeconomic status has been demonstrated to impact not only medical treatment patients receive, but also outcomes after treatment (Hastert, 2015; Hines, 2014; Kim, 2011; Hackley 2005). Prior studies assert that low income areas include patients with a later cancer stage at diagnosis, an older population, lower income households, a higher percentage of Medicaid population, and lower percentage of residents with a higher education (Hastert, 2015; Bradley, 2002; Lin, 2014). Patients from low income areas may have decreased access to healthcare and limited understanding of cancer treatment options. As a result, there may be differences in their medical treatment (Hines, 2014). The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) demonstrated that the Appalachian population in Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania has a high percentage of poverty and lower education status (Vanderpool, 2019). The Appalachian population has more people living in rural environments, higher levels of obesity, and negative cancer beliefs (Vanderpool, 2019). SEER data combined with CIBMTR data demonstrated that patients from socially disadvantaged areas are referred for transplant less often, and data from Virginia shows a regional variation in referral for SCT for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (Paulson, 2019; Arora, 2018). Our aim in this study was to determine if allogeneic stem cell transplant (ASCT) outcomes differ between Appalachian (AR) and non-Appalachian residents (non-AR). Methods A retrospective review of patient records was conducted for 1168 patients who underwent ASCT from 2008-2018 at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Patients were classified as either AR or non-AR based on zip code according to ARC designation. We compared the clinical and demographic variables between the patients from Appalachian area versus not, using Fisher exact test or chi-square test for categorical variables and the Wilcoxon rank sum test for the continuous variables. Overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) estimates were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. Cumulative incidence of acute GVHD, chronic GVHD, relapse and non-relapse mortality (NRM) were analyzed using Gray's test and accounting for competing risks, where the competing risks for aGVHD and cGVHD were relapse or death, the competing risk for relapse was death from any cause and the competing risk for NRM was death due to disease. Results Out of the 1168 patients included in our study, 887 (75.94%) were non-Appalachian and 291 (24.91%) were Appalachian residents. There was no significant difference in age (p 0.14) or gender (p 0.54) between the two groups. The non-AR group and AR group did have a statically significant difference (p & lt;0.01) in the proportion of White and Black patients (Table 1). In both groups, the majority of patients were diagnosed with AML/CMML (42.19% non-AR, 40.55% AR). Other diseases represented included MDS/AA, ALL/PLL, CLL, NHL, CML, HD/HOD, MF, MM; there was no statistical significance with regard to disease distribution between the two populations (p 0.68). Disease related factors including performance status (graded by Karnofsky Score), remission status, comorbidity index, were similar between both groups-as were transplant related factors such as conditioning regimen, donor type, tissue type, CD 34 and CD 3 count (Table 2). BMT related milestones and complications such as days to engraftment, bacteremia, viremia, fungemia, hemorrhagic cystitis, VOD and pulmonary complications were not statistically significant between the two groups (Table 3). Cumulative incidence of those diagnosed with acute and chronic GVHD were not statistically significant between the groups (Graphs 1-2). Outcomes of non-AR and AR groups were compared; results demonstrated that relapse, relapse free survival, overall survival and non-relapse mortality were not statistically significant (Graphs 3-6). Conclusion Our analysis demonstrates that despite several barriers to medical care, AR patients have similar outcomes to non-AR patients after ASCT. As a result, we encourage providers not to view Appalachian residence as an indicator of poorer outcomes. Instead, we recommend supporting and referring Appalachian patients for transplant as aggressively as non-Appalachian patients. This single-institution study should be evaluated with a larger multi-center cohort. Disclosures Brammer: Seattle Genetics, Inc.: Speakers Bureau; Celgene Corporation: Research Funding. Efebera:Celgene: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Research Funding; Takeda: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Ohio State University: Current Employment. Mims:Novartis: Speakers Bureau; Agios: Consultancy; Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Leukemia and Lymphoma Society: Other: Senior Medical Director for Beat AML Study; Kura Oncology: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Syndax Pharmaceuticals: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Other: Data Safety Monitoring Board. Vasu:Kiadis Inc: Other: Kiadis has obtained exclusive licensing requirements from The OHio State University; Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Omeros: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Jaglowski:Kite, a Gilead Company: Consultancy, Research Funding; Juno: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy, Research Funding; CRISPR: Consultancy.