TY - JOUR AU - Louise de Swart, AU - Simon Crouch, AU - Marlijn Hoeks, AU - Alex Smith, AU - Saskia Langemeijer, AU - Pierre Fenaux, AU - Argiris Symeonidis, AU - Jaroslav Cermâk, AU - Eva Hellström-Lindberg, AU - Reinhard Stauder, AU - Guillermo Sanz, AU - Moshe Mittelman, AU - Mette Skov Holm, AU - Luca Malcovati, AU - Krzysztof Mądry, AU - Ulrich Germing, AU - Aurelia Tatic, AU - Aleksandar Savic, AU - Antonio Medina Almeida, AU - Njetocka Gredelj-Simec, AU - Agnes Guerci-Bresler, AU - Odile Beyne-Rauzy, AU - Dominic Culligan, AU - Ioannis Kotsianidis, AU - Raphael Itzykson, AU - Corine van Marrewijk, AU - Nicole Blijlevens, AU - David Bowen, AU - Theo de Witte, AU - on behalf of the EUMDS Registry Participants, PY - 2020/03/01 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Impact of red blood cell transfusion dose density on progression-free survival in patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes JF - Haematologica JA - haematol VL - 105 IS - 3 SE - Articles DO - 10.3324/haematol.2018.212217 UR - https://haematologica.org/article/view/9282 SP - 632-639 AB - Progression-free survival (PFS) of patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) treated with red blood cell transfusions is usually reduced, but it is unclear whether transfusion dose density is an independent prognostic factor. The European MDS Registry collects prospective data at 6-monthly intervals from newly diagnosed lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes patients in 16 European countries and Israel. Data on the transfusion dose density - the cumulative dose received at the end of each interval divided by the time since the beginning of the interval in which the first transfusion was received - were analyzed using proportional hazards regression with time-varying co-variates, with death and progression to higher-risk MDS/acute myeloid leukemia as events. Of the 1,267 patients included in the analyses, 317 died without progression; in 162 patients the disease had progressed. PFS was significantly associated with age, EQ-5D index, baseline World Health Organization classification, bone marrow blast count, cytogenetic risk category, number of cytopenias, and country. Transfusion dose density was inversely associated with PFS (P