In rare disease areas representative data are scarce. Routine sick fund claims data provide a meaningful and reliable base for the in- and outpatient treatment landscape. This real-world data (RWE) from Germany was used to describe treatment patterns for Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL), the most frequent and aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma type in adults.

Claims data from several sick funds of 4.8 Million insured were analyzed. Diagnosis of non-follicular Lymphoma (C83) was confirmed in 2.178 patients, DLBCL (C83.3) in 819 patients. The analysis was age- and gender-adjusted, observational period was 2014 and 2015. Treatments were analyzed for hospitalization and medication based on ATC-Code, Pharma Central Number and coded diagnoses (per ICD).

Mean age of DLBCL patients was 60.3 years, with two peaks at 50-54 and 70-74 years. Total costs for patients with DLBCL averaged 25.048 EUR versus 1.259 EUR in healthy insured. Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) of 4.58 indicates clinical relevance and severity. Comorbidities included several psychiatric diagnoses such as depression in every fifth patient. Mean 3.2 hospitalizations with average 31.5 hospital days were observed in DLBCL patients. Forty-seven percent of patients during observational time-frame did not receive oncological treatment, including relapsed / refractory patients. Only few patients received stem cell transplantation (2.6 percent) or radiation (3.9 percent). Most pharmacological treatments were Rituximab (RTX) + CHOP (57 percent), followed by RTX mono therapy (25 percent) or RTX in combination with Bendamustine (8 percent).

Despite limitations in sick fund claims analyses, these provide a reasonable database for rare diseases. They allow standard treatment pathway- and longitudinal analyses. All DLBCL patients frequently required hospitalization and generated significant costs. A high unmet medical need exists for treatments other than palliative care, especially for a tolerable and effective outpatient therapy in elderly relapsed / refractory DLBCL.