Multimorbidity patterns and survival outcomes in older adults with multiple myeloma: findings from SEER-Medicare

This study examined the association between multimorbidity patterns and survival in patients with multiple myeloma (2007-2017) using SEER-Medicare (n = 7281). We determined survival differences between patients with low severity multimorbidity, concurrent psychiatric/musculoskeletal disorders, and concurrent cardiometabolic/multisystem impairments. Survival probabilities were compared between the pre- and post-novel drug era to account for the impact of novel therapies. The cardiometabolic/multisystem multimorbidity group had an increased risk of overall (adjusted hazard ratio (HR): 1.64, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.53-1.77) and cancer-specific mortality (adjusted HR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.32-1.63) than those with low severity multimorbidity. There were no differences in mortality risk between psychiatric/musculoskeletal and low severity multimorbidity patterns. Survival probabilities were more similar between multimorbidity patterns in the post-novel drug era. The findings suggest that older adults with an elevated multimorbidity burden at diagnosis with multiple myeloma have poor survival outcomes and necessitate the development of health interventions to improve their cancer prognosis.