Use of darbepoetin alfa in European clinical practice for the management of chemotherapy-induced anaemia in four tumour types: final data from the CHOICE study.

AbstractObjectives:The CHOICE study was a prospective, multicentre, observational study designed to assess levels of adherence in current clinical practice to the European product label and EORTC guidelines for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced anaemia (CIA) with darbepoetin alfa (DA). Here we present data split by tumour types: breast, colorectal, ovarian and lung.Methods:Haemoglobin (Hb) levels and red blood cell transfusion requirements were evaluated among patients with solid tumours in 11 European countries. The primary outcome measure was the proportion of patients with a target Hb level of ≥10–≤12 g/dL.Results:The full analysis set included 1887 patients (mean ± SD 62.4 ± 11.4 years); 1585 (84%) had a current disease stage of ≥3. Common chemotherapy regimens were non-platinum + non-taxane based (n = 696 [37%]) or platinum + non-taxane based (n = 660 [35%]).Breast cancer (n = 575):The mean ± SD Hb level at baseline was 9.9 ± 0.8 g/dL (n = 568). Target Hb level was reached by 187 (55%) patients.C...