Epidemiology, treatment patterns, and disease burden of cytomegalovirus in hematopoietic cell transplant recipients in selected countries outside of Europe and North America: A systematic review.

Background: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease impacts morbidity and mortality in hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients. This systematic review summarized data on the epidemiology, management, and burden of CMV post-HCT outside of Europe and North America.

Methods: The MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane databases were searched for observational studies and treatment guidelines in HCT recipients across 15 selected countries from Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East (search period: 1 January 2011-17 September 2021). Outcomes included incidence of CMV infection/disease, recurrence, risk factors, CMV-related mortality, treatments, refractory, resistant CMV, and burden.

Results: Of 2708 references identified, 68 were eligible (67 studies and one guideline; 45/67 studies specific to adult allogeneic HCT recipients). The rates of CMV infection and disease within 1 year of allogeneic HCT were 24.9%-61.2% (23 studies) and 2.9%-15.7% (10 studies), respectively. Recurrence occurred in 19.8%-37.9% of cases (11 studies). Up to 10% of HCT recipients died of CMV-related causes. In all countries, first-line treatment for CMV infection/disease involved intravenous ganciclovir or valganciclovir. Conventional treatments were associated with serious adverse events such as myelosuppression (10.0%) or neutropenia only (30.0%, 39.8%) and nephrotoxicity (11.0%) (three studies), frequently leading to treatment discontinuation (up to 13.6%). Refractory CMV was reported in 2.9%, 13.0%, and 28.9% of treated patients (three studies) with resistant CMV diagnosed in 0%-10% of recipients (five studies). Patient-reported outcomes and economic data were scarce.

Conclusion: The incidence of CMV infection and disease post-HCT is high outside of North America and Europe. CMV resistance and toxicity highlight a major unmet need with current conventional treatments.