Researchers are calling for the extent of skin erythema to be considered as an outcome measure in patients who develop chronic cutaneous graft-vs-host disease (ccGVHD) after allogeneic stem cell transplants for various blood cancers.

"There is value in collecting erythema serially over time as a continuous variable on a scale of 0%-100%" to identify high-risk patients for prophylactic and preemptive treatment, say investigators led by dermatologist Emily Baumrin, MD, director of the GVHD clinic at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

They report a study of more than 300 patients with ccGVHD, which found that the extent of skin erythema strongly predicted the risk for death from GVHD.

Of the 267 patients with cutaneous GVHD at baseline, 103 patients died, the majority without a relapse of their blood cancer.

With additional research, erythema body surface area (BSA) should be "introduced as an outcome measure in clinical practice and trials," they conclude.

At the moment, the NIH Skin Score is commonly used for risk assessment in cutaneous GVHD, but the researchers found that erythema BSA out-predicts this score.

The investigators explain that the NIH Skin Score does incorporate erythema surface area, but it does so as a categorical variable, not a continuous variable. Among other additional factors, it also includes assessments of skin sclerosis, which the investigators found was not associated with GVHD mortality.

Overall, the composite score waters down the weight given to erythema BSA because the score is "driven by stable sclerotic features, and erythema changes are missed," they explain.

The study was published online on March 8 in JAMA Dermatology.

The study included 469 patients with chronic GVHD (cGVHD), of whom 267 (57%) had cutaneous cGVHD at enrollment and 89 (19%) developed skin involvement subsequently.

All of the patients were on systemic immunosuppression for GVHD after allogeneic stem cell transplants for various blood cancers.

They were enrolled from 2007 through 2012 at nine US medical centers all members of the Chronic Graft Versus Host Disease Consortium and followed until 2018.

Erythema BSA and NIH Skin Score were assessed at baseline and then every 3-6 months. Erythema was the first manifestation of skin involvement in the majority of patients, with a median surface area involvement of 11% at baseline.

The study team found that the extent of erythema at first follow-up visit was associated with both nonrelapse mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.33 per 10% BSA increase; P < .001) and overall survival (HR 1.28 per 10% BSA increase; P < .001), whereas extent of sclerotic skin involvement was not associated with either.

Participants in the study were predominantly White. The investigators note that "BSA assessments of erythema may be less reliable in patients with darker skin."

The work was funded by the US Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Institutes of Health. Baumrin had no disclosures; one co-author is an employee of CorEvitas, and two others reported grants/advisor fees from several companies, including Janssen, Mallinckrodt, and Pfizer.

JAMA Dermatol. Published online March 8, 2023. Abstract

M. Alexander Otto is a physician assistant with a master's degree in medical science and a journalism degree from Newhouse. He is an award-winning medical journalist who worked for several major news outlets before joining Medscape. Alex is also an MIT Knight Science Journalism fellow. Email: aotto@mdedge.com

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Erythema Extent Predicts Death in Patients With ccGVHD - Medscape