Attendance at survivorship clinics in relation to Hodgkin lymphoma survivor and treatment characteristics.

PURPOSE: Participation rates in cancer survivorship care (CSC) programs are suboptimal and reasons for non-attendance are poorly understood. To identify possible improvements of the Dutch CSC for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) survivors, we aimed to (1) identify survivor and treatment characteristics associated with non-attendance at Dutch CSC clinics for HL survivors and (2) evaluate reasons for non-attendance.

METHODS

In a retrospective multicenter cohort study, we assessed attendance among 516 adult HL survivors invited to eight CSC clinics from 2013 to 2024. The associations between sex, socio-economic status, age at CSC invitation, HL treatment category, history of cardiovascular disease, history of subsequent malignancy, time since HL diagnosis, and non-attendance were assessed in multivariable logistic regression analysis. Reasons for non-attendance were retrieved from a survey sent to all non-attenders.

RESULTS

CSC attendance was 70% (n = 363). In multivariable analysis, male sex was associated with higher odds of non-attendance compared to female sex (odds ratio (OR) 1.61, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01-2.56) while a history of subsequent malignancy was associated with lower odds of non-attendance (OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.19-0.89). Of all non-attenders, 44 (28.8%, of whom 45.5% male) responded to the survey. Frequently reported reasons for non-attendance were surveillance or treatment for late effects elsewhere (n = 17) and emotional burden of clinic visit (n = 15).

CONCLUSION

Our findings inform attempts to improve attendance at Dutch CSC clinics for HL survivors. Active involvement of healthy (male) survivors in improvement of the survivorship program is key to its success.