Follicular lymphoma treatment patterns between 2000 and 2014: a SEER-Medicare analysis of elderly patients

Characterize follicular lymphoma (FL) treatment patterns among elderly patients using a dataset with longer follow-up time. Using the linked Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results-Medicare data, we identified patients diagnosed with FL between 2000 and 2013 with claims data until 2014. We investigated the treatments received and assigned them to lines of treatment. We identified 10,238 elderly patients. Over a 4.7-year median follow-up, 78% of the patients received at least first-line treatment. Fewer individuals received second-line (47%) and third-line (30%) treatments. RCHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisolone), RCVP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, vincristine and prednisolone) and rituximab monotherapy were the most common treatment regimens. One in five elderly patients did not receive FL-directed therapy. The most common treatment regimens were limited to RCHOP, RCVP and rituximab monotherapy.