TY - JOUR AU - Amy J. Davidoff, AU - Sheila Weiss Smith, AU - Maria R. Baer, AU - Xuehua Ke, AU - Jason M. Bierenbaum, AU - Franklin Hendrick, AU - Diane L. McNally, AU - Steven D. Gore, PY - 2011/12/30 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Patient and physician characteristics associated with erythropoiesis-stimulating agent use in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes JF - Haematologica JA - haematol VL - 97 IS - 1 SE - Brief Reports DO - 10.3324/haematol.2011.049130 UR - https://haematologica.org/article/view/6175 SP - 128-132 AB - Patient and physician characteristics associated with use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents in myelodysplastic syndrome patients have not yet been described. Myelodysplastic syndrome patients diagnosed from 2001 to 2005 were identified from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results-Medicare database. Multivariate regressions examined the association between patient and physician characteristics and the probability of receiving any erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, and of receiving therapeutic-length (≥8 week) treatment episodes.Among the 6,588 myelodysplastic syndrome patients studied, 65% received erythropoiesis-stimulating agents. Use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents was lower for blacks compared to whites (OR 0.78; 95% CI:0.61–0.99), single persons compared to married (OR 0.77; 95% CI:0.62–0.97), Medicaid recipients (OR 0.66; 95% CI:0.55–0.79), and those living in census tracts with lower educational attainment. Patients who did not consult a hematology-oncology specialist were less likely to receive erythropoiesis-stimulating agents. Specialist access, financial resources and mobility are key determinants of receipt of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents among myelodysplastic syndrome patients. ER -