Objective: The objective of this study is to determine if there are differences in outcome for patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma in a rural setting compared to a metropolitan setting and which factors influence these outcomes.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting: Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District.
Participants: A total of 391 patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma between 2000 and 2022.
Main outcome measures: Treatment and survival outcomes of these patients.
Results: Patients being treated in a rural cancer care centre had lower overall survival compared to those treated at a metropolitan cancer care centre (median OS = 44.4 months vs. 80.2 months, p = 0.002), despite access to similar treatments by the same group of haematologists. There was a significantly higher rate of upfront autologous transplantation (38% vs. 20%, p = 0.001) and higher rate of inclusion in clinical trials (16% vs. 7%, p = 0.021) in patients treated at a metropolitan cancer care centre compared to the rural cancer care centre.
Conclusions: Multiple myeloma patients treated at a rural centre had shorter survival compared to patients treated at a metropolitan centre, and this may be related to lower rates of autologous transplantation and inclusion in clinical trials.
Keywords: Illawarra Shoalhaven; autologous stem cell transplantation; clinical trial; health outcomes; plasma cell myeloma.
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