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iwCLL 2025 | A prospective analysis investigating engagement in preventive health measures in patients with CLL
Vanthana Bharathi, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, discusses the findings of a prospective analysis investigating the trends and predictors of engagement in preventive health measures in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Dr Bharathi notes that rates of vaccination and cancer screening dropped during the pandemic but are mostly recovering well, and highlights the importance of routine survey reminders to improve participation in these preventive health measures. This interview took place at the biennial International Workshop on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (iwCLL) 2025 in Krakow, Poland.
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Transcript
This was a quality improvement and prospective study that we conducted at MD Anderson. So it included a thousand patients from the years 2019 to 2025. So we wanted to look at whether patients with CLL were getting the actual recommended vaccinations and cancer screenings in real-world practice because as you know, patients with CLL have an increased risk of both infections and other cancers...
This was a quality improvement and prospective study that we conducted at MD Anderson. So it included a thousand patients from the years 2019 to 2025. So we wanted to look at whether patients with CLL were getting the actual recommended vaccinations and cancer screenings in real-world practice because as you know, patients with CLL have an increased risk of both infections and other cancers. So we did a study using a standardized questionnaire that captured the information on vaccinations, cancer screenings, demographics, and primary care engagement.
So we found that for vaccinations, particularly influenza, the pneumococcal and shingles vaccine, the rates were initially high, but then it dropped during the pandemic. And they’re starting to recover, but they never fully recovered to the pre-pandemic levels. And for patients that got yearly surveys, we found, for example, influenza and COVID, we were able to see an increased uptake with repeated surveys.
And then with cancer screenings, the findings and sort of the pattern was similar. So it dropped during the pandemic and it’s especially for mammography and colonoscopy, the rates are almost at the pre-pandemic levels, it’s completely recovered. But for the PSA screening and dermatology visits, it’s kind of very low. And then patients that got repeated surveys, especially with screenings that need yearly screenings like the dermatology and the PSA, we were able to see an increased uptake with our repeated reminders.
When looking at disparities, we were able to find that patients of older age had higher uptake of both vaccines and cancer screenings. There were some racial disparities in the PSA screening as well. There were lower rates in Black and Asian patients. So in conclusion, this study shows that it’s important to do routine survey reminders, like how we can improve these rates in patients with CLL, because it’s a pretty significant mortality burden in this population.
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