Continued improvement in survival in multiple myeloma: changes in early mortality and outcomes in older patients

Therapy for multiple myeloma (MM) has markedly changed in the past decade with the introduction of new drugs, but it is not clear whether the improvements have been sustained. We studied 1038 patients diagnosed between 2001 and 2010, grouping patients into two 5-year periods by diagnosis, 2001–2005 and 2006–2010. The median estimated follow-up for the cohort was 5.9 years with 47% alive at the last follow-up. The median overall survival (OS) for the entire cohort was 5.2 years: 4.6 years for patients in the 2001–2005 group compared with 6.1 years for the 2006–2010 cohort ( P =0.002). The improvement was primarily seen among patients over 65 years, the 6-year OS improving from 31 to 56%, P