Arturo Pereira

Summary: Data on real‐world survival and treatment patterns in large, unselected myelofibrosis (MF) cohorts remain limited. We analysed 1649 patients with MF diagnosed from 2010 onwards and included in the Spanish Myelofibrosis Registry across 64 centres. Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors were administered to approximately half of the patients. Among those aged ≤70 years with intermediate‐2/high‐risk International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS), only 25% ultimately underwent transplantation. Median survival was 6.6 years, with no significant differences between primary and secondary MF; acute leukaemia was the most frequent cause of death, accounting for 20% of cases. Compared with a matched general population, relative survival at 5 and 10 years was 68% and 44% respectively. The reduction in relative survival was more pronounced in patients aged >65 years and in male patients, two subgroups that also exhibited a higher burden of comorbidities and a greater frequency of high molecular risk mutations. Remarkably, patients in the high‐risk IPSS category had a 10‐year relative survival of only 12%; however, survival reduction was not confined to high‐risk disease, with divergence from expected survival emerging early among lower‐risk categories. These findings highlight the persistent impact of MF on life expectancy in the contemporary JAK inhibitor era and the need for improvement in its overall management.

The treatment landscape of multiple myeloma (MM) has evolved significantly over four decades, driven by novel therapies and optimized supportive care. However, the attrition rate (AR), defined as the proportion of patients who die without advancing to the next line of therapy (LOT) after treatment failure, remains a major challenge. To assess how treatment patterns and outcomes have evolved, we analyzed 1,297 MM patients treated between 1980 and 2020, stratified by diagnosis period and age. ARs declined from 38–55% in the 1980s to 15–20% in 2010–2020, but remained high in older patients, with 46.9% of those over 80 unable to proceed beyond first LOT. While progression-free survival gains were primarily observed in the first LOT (15.8 to 24.1 months, p = 0.001), overall survival (OS) improved across all LOTs and age groups, likely due to more effective salvage therapies and supportive care. Achieving a complete response in first-line therapy was associated with a significant OS benefit (4.5 vs. 1.6 years, p < 0.001), underscoring its importance, as many patients, particularly older ones, are less likely to reach subsequent LOTs. Despite advances in MM treatment, patient loss to attrition remains a challenge, highlighting the need for more effective therapies early in the disease course.

Background: Despite most controlled trials have shown no measurable benefit of COVID‐19 convalescent plasma (CCP) in patients with COVID‐19, some studies suggest that early administration of CCP with high‐titer anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 can be beneficial in selected patients. We investigated the efficacy of early administration of high‐titer CCP to patients with COVID‐19 who required hospitalization,Study design and methods: Observational, propensity score (PS) matched case–control study of COVID‐19 patients treated with CCP within 72 h of hospital admission and untreated controls from August 2020 to February 2021. All CCP donations had a Euroimmun anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 sample‐to‐cutoff ratio ≥3. PS matching was based on prognostic factors and presented features with high‐standardized differences between the treated and control groups. The primary endpoint was mortality within 30 days of diagnosis.Results: A total of 1604 patients were analyzed, 261 of whom received CCP, most (82%) within 24 h after admission. Median age was 67 years (interquartile range: 56–79), and 953 (60%) were men. Presenting factors independently associated with higher 30‐day mortality were increased age, cardiac disease, hypoxemic respiratory failure, renal failure, and plasma d‐dimer >700 ng/ml.After PS matching, transfusion of CCP was associated with a significant reduction in the 30‐day mortality rate (odds ratio [OR]; 0.94, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.91–0.98; p = .001) that extended to the 60th day after COVID‐19 diagnosis (OR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.92–0.99; p = .01).Conclusion: Our results suggest that CCP can still be helpful in selected patients with COVID‐19 and call for further studies before withdrawing CCP from the COVID‐19 therapeutic armamentarium.

Summary: The prognostic landscape of multiple myeloma (MM) has evolved significantly over the last few decades. There are, however, few data measuring such improvement in real‐world patients. This study aimed to investigate trends in survival improvement over 45 years, and the associated clinical factors, in an unselected population of patients with MM. Between 1970 and 2015, 1 161 MM patients were included. Patients were classified into three calendar periods (1970–1984, 1985–1999, and 2000–2015), according to the treatment received; polychemotherapy, autologous stem cell transplantation, and novel drugs respectively. We analysed relative survival (RS) to accurately evaluate MM‐related death rates after excluding the mortality expected in the general population. RS at five years increased from 27% in 1970–1984 to 38% and 56% in the next two calendar periods respectively. The improvement to survival was greater in the younger population, but it was also observed in elderly patients and those with poor performance status and more advanced disease. Although myeloma is still a non‐curable disease, encouraging results have been observed in the last decades. Progress is expected to continue with the use of new generations of anti‐myeloma drugs, and will, hopefully, be documented in real‐world patients by the appropriate population‐based studies.