Multiple Myeloma Patients Have Longer Survival With Military Healthcare

BETHESDA, MD — MHS beneficiaries with multiple myeloma (MM) had improved overall survival compared to MM patients from the U.S. general population, according to a new report.

Researchers from the John P. Murtha Cancer Center and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, both in Bethesda, MD, pointed out that access to healthcare is an important factor affecting survival of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) in the U.S. general population. “The U.S. Military Health System (MHS) provides universal health care to beneficiaries and has been associated with improved survival across multiple malignancies,” the authors wrote in Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma & Leukemia.¹

The study team sought to compare survival of MHS beneficiaries with MM with patients from the U.S. general population.

To do that, the researchers used the DoD’s Automated Central Tumor Registry (ACTUR) and the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. Included patients had histologically confirmed MM between 1987 and 2013 and were followed through 2015 for overall survival.

For purposes of the study, two SEER patients in the civilian population were matched to each ACTUR patient by age group, sex, race and diagnosis year group. The researchers compared 5- and 10-year survival between ACTUR and SEER patients to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) with adjustment for potential confounders.

Results indicated that median survival of the ACTUR patients was 47.1 months (95% CI: 43.9-50.4) compared to 33.0 months (95% CI, 32.0-35.0) of the SEER patients. “Five and 10-year death rates were significantly lower for ACTUR patients than the SEER patients with an adjusted HR of 0.74 (95% CI, 0.68-0.81) and 0.79 (95% CI, 0.74-0.85), respectively,” the authors wrote. “The survival advantage of ACTUR patients was preserved when stratified by age, sex, race, and diagnosis year.”

1. Dew A, Lin J, Darmon S, Roswarski J, Shriver C, Zhu K, Chiu A. Survival Among Patients With Multiple Myeloma in the United States Military Health System Compared to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 2024 Jul 2:S2152-2650(24)00243-X. doi: 10.1016/j.clml.2024.06.008. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39034205.m J Hematol