P-458: The impact of continuous therapy on the Quality of Life in Romanian patients with Multiple Myeloma

Introduction: The treatment paradigm of Multiple Myeloma (MM) has shifted in the past years, as continuous therapy is becoming the standard of care in both newly diagnosed as well as relapsed patients.
Although it is undisputable that this approach has added a great benefit on the progression-free as well as overall survival, it is still unclear how the quality of life is impacted in these patients.

Methods: The study includes 155 adult MM patients from Fundeni Clinical Institute in Romania, receiving continuous therapy containing Daratumumab, Proteasone Inhibitors, Immunomodulators or bi-specific antibodies. We developed a quantitative questionnaire to interrogate the effect of the therapy on their personal and professional life, their regard towards the therapy and to identify the side effects that have the strongest impact on their Quality of Life.

Results: 80.6% of the patients reported that the treatment they are receiving negatively impacts their quality of life. More than half of the patients considered that the most detrimental aspects of the therapy are the financial burden, the impact on the professional life, and the inability of making plans for the future. 45.1% of the patients report that the therapy is negatively impacting their family life and over one third states that it has a deleterious effect on their relationship with their partner.
One third of the patients also stated that the frequent visits to the hospital are causing them a medium-high level of anxiety.
In terms of the side effects experienced, two-thirds of the patients consider that tiredness is the main factor causing a decrease in their quality of life, closely followed by the gastro-intestinal disturbances in half of the patients.
Despite this, none of the patients considered dropping the therapy and more than half of the patients consider that the frequent visits to the hospital offer them a psychological comfort. In addition, 77.4% of the patients declare that they are afraid to stop the therapy if given the choice, the main concerns being the fear for an early relapse.

Conclusions: Although continuous therapy is associated with a high financial burden and a negative impact on both the professional and personal life, the frequent visits to the hospital appear to be reassuring. Moreover, the patients would not opt for treatment discontinuation and feel safer when monitored frequently.