Table 1.
Comparison of baseline characteristics between patients undergoing rituximab maintenance (R‐maintenance) or observation
| Variable | Category | All patients | R‐maintenance | Observation | P‐value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient number | n (%) | 396 (100.0) | 260 (100.0) | 136 (100.0) | ||
| Gender | Male | n (%) | 196 (49.5) | 130 (50.0) | 66 (48.5) | .7811 |
| Female | 200 (50.5) | 130 (50.0) | 70 (51.5) | |||
| Age (years) | Mean ± SD | 56.3 ± 12.3 | 55.8 ± 12.1 | 57.21 ± 12.71 | .2654 | |
| Ann Arbor stage | II‐III | n (%) | 219 (55.3) | 142 (54.6) | 77 (56.6) | .7035 |
| IV | 177 (44.7) | 118 (45.4) | 59 (43.4) | |||
| Practice setting | Medical center | n (%) | 286 (72.2) | 187 (71.9) | 99 (72.8) | .8542 |
| Others | 110 (27.8) | 73 (28.1) | 37 (27.2) | |||
| Charlson comorbidity index | 0 | n (%) | 257 (64.9) | 168 (64.6) | 89 (65.4) | .5958 |
| 1 | 85 (21.5) | 59 (22.7) | 26 (19.1) | |||
| 2+ | 54 (13.6) | 33 (12.7) | 21 (15.4) | |||
| Time from diagnosis to R‐induction treatment (day) | Mean ± SD | 73.2 ± 127.9 | 73.4 ± 125.3 | 72.9 ± 133.4 | .0865 | |
| Induction treatments | R‐CHOP | n (%) | 229 (57.8) | 139 (53.5) | 90 (66.2) | .0150e |
| R‐othersb | 167 (42.2) | 121 (46.5) | 46 (33.8) | |||
| Rituximab cycles in induction treatment | 4‐6 cycles | n (%) | 272 (68.7) | 193 (74.2) | 79 (58.1) | .0010e |
| 7‐8 cycles | 124 (31.3) | 67 (25.8) | 57 (41.9) | |||
| Relapsea | n (%) | 123 (31.0) | 83 (31.9) | 40 (29.4) | .6081 | |
| Treatments after relapse | R | n (%) | 62 (15.7) | 48 (18.5) | 14 (10.3) | .0199e |
| R + CTc | n (%) | 29 (7.3) | 14 (5.4) | 15 (11.0) | ||
| CHOP | n (%) | 12 (3.0) | 6 (2.3) | 6 (4.4) | ||
| Othersd | n (%) | 20 (5.1) | 15 (3.8) | 5 (3.7) | ||
| HSCT | n (%) | 8 (2.0) | 5 (1.9) | 3 (2.2) | ||
CHOP, cyclophosphamide, anthracycline, vincristine, and steroid; CT, chemotherapies; HSCT, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; R, rituximab; R‐induction, rituximab‐containing induction chemotherapies; R‐others, rituximab with chemotherapies other than CHOP; SD, standard deviation.
Patients who received another intravenous therapies during following up were defined as relapse.
In the R‐other group, 160 patients received R‐CVP and 7 patients received other rituximab‐containing chemotherapies than R‐CHOP and R‐CVP.
Six patients received R‐CVP, 4 patients received R‐CHOP, 5 patients received fludarabine‐based chemotherapies with rituximab, and 14 patients received rituximab with oral chemotherapies.
Others included nonrituximab‐containing chemotherapies other than CHOP, such as oral chemotherapies, CVP, and fludarabine‐based chemotherapies.
P‐value is <.05.