Renal failure among multiple myeloma patients utilizing carfilzomib and associated factors in the “real world”

Carfilzomib, a next-generation proteasome inhibitor, improves outcomes in patients with multiple myeloma (MM); however, a proportion of those treated develop renal failure due to adverse event, comorbidity, or myeloma progression. The rate of renal failure and associated risk factors remains unknown in real-world populations. Adults with relapsed/refractory MM who received carfilzomib between the years 2013 and 2016 were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked databases. Renal failure was defined using the corresponding International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) diagnostic codes and procedure codes for dialysis. Patients with a pre-existing diagnosis of renal failure were excluded to distinguish an adverse event from comorbidity. Multivariate cox regression analysis was performed to identify the variables independently associated with the development of renal failure among MM patients utilizing carfilzomib. A total of 1950 patients were included in the analysis. Renal failure developed in 22% of patients during the study period. The median time to development of renal failure from first carfilzomib administration was 1.6 months (range < 0.1–23.3). Increasing age (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.01 per year, p = 0.018), pre-existing heart failure (aHR 1.50, p = 0.005), and pre-existing chronic kidney disease (aHR 2.00, p < 0.001) were associated with a higher risk of developing renal failure. Renal failure occurred in up to 22% of patients on carfilzomib therapy. The exact cause and mechanism of renal failure cannot be determined from our study and may be multifactorial. Future studies are needed to further understand the cause of renal failure among patients on carfilzomib and devise strategies to mitigate the risk.