ABSTRACT
Introduction: Barriers to therapy for patients with lymphoma are an essential topic. The Lymphoma Coalition biennial global patient survey collects data on patient experiences, including challenges or limitations patients face in seeking medical attention or access to treatment. Due to Covid-19, patients with lymphoma have experienced high barriers. This study aims to rank the influence of core demographic variables in their ability to predict barriers to lymphoma treatment in 2020 and 2022. Method(s): The survey was deployed globally to lymphoma patients and caregivers in 2020 & 2022. The outcome variable was the identification of any barrier to receiving lymphoma treatment. Logit regression was used to model the outcome against core demographics. Variable importance was quantified with independent Monte Carlo resampling. Result(s): Barriers were significantly elevated in all regions in 2022 (p<0.0001). Those who are of older age were found to have fewer barriers to treatment: Unit OR = 0.965;95%CI [0.962 - 0.968]. Age was consistently a variable of high importance across most regions in both survey years (Table 1). In 2022, treatment delay due to concerns over COVID-19 was the second-ranked variable of importance in three regions. Conclusion(s): Barriers to treatment for patients with lymphoma increased dramatically across all regions from 2020-2022. Increased barriers to treatment in those of younger age were an unexpected finding. Heterogeneity in the impact of variables that influence access to treatment appears to be enhanced by participants' psychosocial impacts due to the pandemic. Policymakers and providers should actively rectify access disparities in their respective regions.