Survival after Pure (Acute) Erythroid Leukemia in the United States: A SEER-Based Study

Acute erythroid leukemia (AEL), also known as pure erythroid leukemia, is a rare subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) characterized by the proliferation of malignant erythroid precursors. Outcome data at the population level are scarce.

We performed a retrospective analysis of the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. All cases with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of acute (pure) erythroid leukemia during the period of 2000-2019 were included in the study. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to perform survival analysis. The significance of differences between overall survival (OS) was analyzed using the log-rank test.

In total, 968 patients were included in the study. The median age was 68 years (range 0-95), 62% of patients were males, and 62.5% (n = 605) were treated with chemotherapy. The median OS for <18, 18-49, 50-64, 65-79 and 80+ age groups was 69, 18, 8, 3 and 1 month, respectively (p < 0.0001). Patients who received chemotherapy had significantly improved OS compared to patients who did not, among both adults (p < 0.0001) and children (p = 0.004). There were no significant differences in OS based on sex, race, ethnicity and median household income. Median OS for adults diagnosed in 2000-2004, 2005-2009, 2010-2014, 2015-2019 was 4, 6, 6 and 3 months, respectively, with no significant differences in OS between these groups.

AEL occurs in all age groups but is most common in the elderly. Outcomes are poor with current chemotherapeutic agents, with no improvement in the last two decades. This study stresses the urgent need for investigational agents.