Frailty linked to lower quality of life in real-world myeloma cohort

Researchers assessed patient-reported quality of life in 681 Danish patients with symptomatic newly diagnosed or relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma between 2017 and 2021. Patients were classified as fit, intermediate-fit or frail using the International Myeloma Working Group frailty score. Quality-of-life measures included EORTC QLQ-C30, QLQ-CIPN20 and SF12 domains; changes were analysed using linear mixed models over two years.

At enrolment, frail patients reported clinically relevant lower global quality of life and physical functioning, and greater fatigue than fit patients. During follow-up, frail patients with newly diagnosed disease reported improvement in global quality of life and pain, while physical functioning and fatigue remained unchanged. Among frail patients with relapsed/refractory disease, global quality of life and fatigue were unchanged, while physical functioning deteriorated and pain increased. The authors caution that quality-of-life findings from clinical-trial populations may not apply directly to frail patients in routine care.