There were no significant differences between patients with or without Down syndrome in the proportion of either rapid or slow early responses. Significantly fewer patients with Down syndrome had standard-risk low disease, and significantly more had average or high-risk disease.
Patients with Down syndrome initially had 11.5% excess risk for death during induction, but following additional treatment modifications, the excess risk decreased to 1.7%.
Among patients with Down syndrome, one died during intensive consolidation, and two died during delayed intensification. All three deaths were due to infections. No patients with Down syndrome died during maintenance.
Patients with Down syndrome also had a significantly increased risk for infection during induction (P less than .0001).