Changes in Quality-of-Life Parameters in Patients Receiving Therapeutic Interventions for Cancer-Associated Anemia: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Cancer-associated anemia (CAA) is multifactorial in etiology and can occur due to the malignancy itself or as a side effect of the treatment. The prevalence of CAA can exceed 90%. Several studies have reported positive correlations between increased hemoglobin (Hb) and improved health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) measures including fatigue scores and scores for physical, mental and social well-being. However, Hb increases and extent of improvement in HR-QoL measures varied by therapeutic interventions (Oral/intravenous iron, erythropoietin stimulating agents (ESAs), transfusions, and/or others), as did HR-QoL tools used in these studies. We conducted a systematic review to identify final target Hb levels as well as changes in Hb from baseline that resulted in significant improvement in HR-QoL parameters following interventions for CAA. We also sought to identify HR-QoL tools that effectively and comprehensively captured symptomatic improvement following Hb increases in patients with CAA.